The Nameless
by ZiggySTARDIS
Summary: The Eighth Doctor and Liv Chenka arrive in the sleepy English village of Taberly. But why are all the locals so hostile to them? Has it got something to do with the water plant at the foot of the valley, and it's mysterious director, Professor Holloway? Full summary within.
1. Chapter 1

**Full synopsis:** _T_ _he Doctor and Liv Chenka arrive in the sleepy English village of Taberly. But why are all the locals so hostile to them? Has it got something to do with the water plant at the foot of the valley, and it's mysterious director, Professor Holloway? Or maybe it's got something to do with the disappearance of a visiting academic some two years earlier… As the Doctor and Liv press deeper into the mystery, they find themselves caught up in a plot to take over planet Earth – an invasion several centuries in the making…_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ While this story is set during the Eighth Doctor's Big Finish adventures, no prior knowledge of any of those adventures are required here, apart from a little background information on his companion Liv: Liv Chenka is a human from the future, a medtech(paramedic) who met the Seventh Doctor, later travelling with the Eighth. That's all you need to read this story :-)**

* * *

Danny Richmond's torch beam pierced through the darkness, casting the wall of the tunnel in a harsh white light – he swept it along the tunnel, although he couldn't see much further; there was a turning up ahead.

'Is something wrong, Doctor Richmond?'

The voice came from behind him – his colleague, Professor Holloway was a few paces away. Danny turned, pointing the torch slightly to the left of the professor, so as not to blind him. Even down here, in these infernal tunnels, and with a bright-yellow helmet that made him look slightly ridiculous, Graham Holloway managed to present an intimidating figure – the downturned corners of his mouth, the furrowing in his brow; these were all signs that the professor was displeased.

'No, Professor,' Danny replied quickly, with a shake of his head, 'I was just getting my bearings.'

'We need to keep moving, Doctor Richmond,' Holloway admonished. 'We've only got a few hours left until sunset, and I don't particularly enjoy the thought of hiking cross-country back to Taberly in the dark – do you?'

'Not really,' Danny said, through gritted teeth. Holloway sniffed.

'Then let's go,' he said impatiently, ushering Danny down the corridor with his own torch. Danny sighed, and set off again – he regretted taking this posting with Holloway (although he knew that regret would evaporate in seconds if they found what they were looking for). Why on Earth had he chosen to spend his entire Saturday spelunking through an underground cave system with the most unlikable man on the faculty? He was a fool – he could've been spending this time with Kate instead…

'We can't be too far away,' said Holloway, glancing briefly at his map. Danny nodded, pressing on down the tunnel. The sooner this was over, the better.

They emerged into a large cavern – the air was cool, and damp. A shallow, murky lake spread out before them; Danny squinted, but the light in the cavern was much too low to allow any sort of detail on the bottom of the lake to be perceived from the surface. Danny aimed his torch into the bright turquoise waters, but even then he couldn't make out much.

'I can't see anything,' he said, peering down at the water. 'Who knows how deep it is?'

'I'm sure that will be easy enough to ascertain,' Holloway replied, joining Danny at the lakeside. 'For now, I think the colouration of the water is of more interest to us.'

'What do you mean?' Danny asked, looking at the professor in confusion.

'Well, Doctor Richmond – look at it! It's almost an identical shade to the affected grass found all across Taberly valley!' the professor exclaimed.

'You think the element's leaked into the water?' Danny asked incredulously.

'I don't know – but it's certainly possible,' Holloway replied. 'Give me something we can take a sample with.'

Danny reluctantly took the flask containing the hot water he'd hoped to use to make a cup of tea when they eventually stopped for lunch to the side of the cavern and emptied it out, before handing it to Holloway. The professor moved to the side of the lake and crouched down, extending his arm towards the surface of the water. It was difficult for him to reach, and Danny was just about to offer Holloway his assistance when suddenly, the professor pitched off the side of the lake and into the water, an almost comical look of surprise on his face.

'Professor!' Danny yelled, leaping forward to the lake as Holloway disappeared below the surface. He crouched down, but his colleague couldn't be seen – who knew how deep this lake really was. Danny knew it was nothing short of utterly dangerous to jump in after the professor, but he was seriously considering doing so when Holloway's hand broke the surface again. Danny reached forward and grabbed it, pulling the man up and out of the water.

Holloway heaved himself up onto the rocky side of the lake, gasping for air – he was soaked through, and even though Danny knew he was going to kill himself laughing later on, he was dreading the long cross-country walk back to the village even more now. Holloway's trip into the lake would only serve to make the grumpiest man on the faculty even grumpier as they traipsed back up the valley to the tiny village of Taberly, where they were lodging for the weekend.

'Professor Holloway, are you alright?' Danny asked. Holloway blinked several times, wide-eyed and shocked. He looked at his hands, and flexed his fingers as though he was surprised to be alive.

'I'm fine,' he said, slowly.

'Christ, you could've drowned!' Danny exclaimed.

'Yes, that was entirely possible,' Holloway replied, his voice still slow. He took off his glasses, and rubbed at his eyes, shaking his head.

'You're soaked through – here, take my coat. We need to get you warmed up,' said Danny, holding out his coat to the professor.

'That won't be necessary, Daniel,' said Holloway, as he put his glasses back on and stood up, seemingly unfazed by his saturated clothing. Something registered in Danny's head, but he pushed it away for the time being.

'We should get back to the surface,' said Danny, putting his coat back on – he might as well, since the professor obviously wasn't going to use it. He looked at the almost full flask in Holloway's hands. 'You must be freezing – we've got a sample of the water, more than enough to run a few tests on for the time being.'

'Yes, to the surface,' Holloway said – he almost seemed like he was in a trance, enthralled by something. 'Let's go.'

'Um, ok,' said Danny. The professor set off immediately, leaving his rucksack sitting at the side of the lake. Danny called to him, but he was already gone, up off the tunnel towards the surface. Danny hurried after him, panting with the weight of two backpacks.

'Have you thought of a title for your paper yet, Professor?' he asked by way of conversation as they made their way back through the tunnel.

'Paper? What paper?' Holloway asked, stopping midstride and turning around to look at Danny.

'We've potentially just discovered a brand new element, Professor Holloway. Surely you want to publish this discovery?' said Danny.

'Oh, yes,' said Holloway, nodding sagely. 'That paper. And no, I haven't.'

He paused.

'Could you walk ahead, Daniel? My head-torch seems to have failed. Probably the… the water.'

Something registered in Danny's head again – what was it? Something he couldn't quite place his finger on.

'Of course, Professor,' he said, moving past Holloway and leading the way along the tunnel again. As he walked, he wracked his brain, trying to figure out what was different about the professor. Then it hit him.

'Professor, I think that's the first time _ever_ you haven't called me Doctor Rich…'

He was cut off by a blow to the back of the head. He cried out as he fell to the ground, losing his balance under the weight of the two rucksacks – he held a hand up for help from Holloway, but the professor simply stepped over him towards the exit from the tunnel. As Holloway went, he dropped a rock to the ground; one he'd just picked up from the floor of the tunnel.

'Professor Holloway?'

Holloway didn't reply. He simply walked a little way further, before turning around. He ignored Danny, and instead focused on the ceiling of the tunnel directly above him. Danny watched him with a mixture of confusion and fear – it was ridiculous, but he could've sworn that the professor's eyes were glowing green.

There was a creaking sound from the ceiling above Danny, which quickly turned into a groaning, which became a roar as the rock cracked and fell through, burying the man. He didn't get the chance to call out; it was all far too fast.

When the dust had settled, and he was sure that no more rocks were going to cascade from the ceiling, Holloway turned, and began to walk up the corridor again, leaving the pile of rocks behind. In his hand was Danny's flask, full of water from the lake. He moved along the tunnel swiftly, and single-mindedly, progressing quickly towards the surface.

* * *

The quiet of the village of Taberly was shattered as a loud, alien noise pulsed and echoed through it. The sound built from a tiny gust into a loud roar, wheezing and groaning as a wooden box appeared on the green in the middle of the village. The sound faded as the TARDIS's engines cycled down, and once the box had fallen silent, the door opened and Liv Chenka stepped out onto something that she had to admit she was rather disappointed with – freshly mown grass.

'Doctor?' she called, looked back into the TARDIS – the Doctor appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, looking out at his companion eagerly.

'Yes, what is it Liv?' he asked.

'Destrana, you said,' Liv said in an accusing tone. 'A paradise planet, you said – trees as tall as towers, lakes as wide as an ocean, and the most friendly natives you could hope to meet.'

'Yes?'

'I'm not seeing tower-trees, ocean-lakes, or friendly natives – I'm seeing a sad looking old oak, a tiny pond, and I'm fairly sure that old woman's scowling at us,' said Liv, looking around the village. There was indeed an elderly lady sitting on a seat beside the tiny duck pond, frowning at them. Liv gave her a little wave, but the woman simply frowned even more.

'Oh,' said the Doctor, stepping out of the TARDIS and closing the door. 'I was sure I'd set the coordinates for Destrana - I must have gotten them wrong…'

'Again,' Liv interrupted. The Doctor shrugged.

'What can I say?' he asked. 'The TARDIS can be a pretty temperamental ship, when the mood takes her.'

'Or maybe you just aren't as good a pilot as you say you are,' Liv said.

'I've been flying this TARDIS for more than eight hundred years, Liv,' the Doctor replied. 'And I hardly ever miss – well, these days, anyway.'

'Hear that? That's the sound of me not believing you,' Liv replied, as the Doctor locked the TARDIS, and joined her. 'Where are we?'

The Doctor took a deep breath, before exhaling.

'England, I think,' he said. 'Somewhere in the middle, roughly –'

'Something wrong?' Liv asked, as the Doctor suddenly stopped talking. His brow furrowed in a look of concern.

'I'm not sure,' he replied, looking around uncertainly. 'There's something at the back of my mind, itching away – I can't put my finger on it.'

'What do you mean?' Liv asked.

'I've no idea,' the Doctor admitted. 'But something's wrong – I can almost taste something in the air.'

He looked around at the little village, unsure. Then his face relaxed, and everything seemed alright.

'It's probably nothing – just not quite what I was expecting, that's all,' he said. 'Come on, let's have a look around.'

'Really?' Liv frowned. 'Apart from the angry pensioner and the galaxy's smallest duck pond, it doesn't look like there's much to see. It all looks a bit… harmless.'

'Oh, there's always something to see, Liv,' said the Doctor, striding off across the green energetically. 'Never underestimate the quiet English country village – some of my best life or death experiences have been in quiet English country villages.'

'Oh great, that's reassuring,' Liv muttered as she followed him. They passed the old woman who'd scowled at them before – the Doctor smiled at her, and wished her good morning.

'You're not supposed to walk on the grass,' she spat, looking at the Doctor and Liv, and the trail they'd left across the grass, accusingly.

* * *

 _Snap!_

Douglas Hamill lowered the camera away from his face as the pair of strangers walked away from the blue phone box which had so mysteriously just appeared on the green. He raised the camera again, and zoomed in on them.

 _Snap! Snap!_

He didn't recognise them – these two were new, strangers. And even though he'd never been one to deny the evidence placed in front of him, this was obviously an impossibility. Strangers in _Taberly_ , of all places. This was new – _important_. He'd have to follow them.

So he did.

* * *

After a quick look around the village, the Doctor and Liv made their way into the Taberly Inn, where they were greeted by a rotund little man with a thick, bushy moustache and a beer belly.

'Hello there,' said the Doctor, earning a grunt and half a nod from the bartender. 'I'm afraid my companion and I have gotten a bit lost – would you mind telling me exactly where we are?'

'Taberly,' the bartender said slowly, as though the Doctor was stupid. 'Says it on the sign above the door.'

'Oh, I see,' said the Doctor, looking a little put out. 'And where is Taberly, exactly?'

'Nowhere near the Mersey, that's for sure,' said the bartender. 'You from Liverpool?'

'Sort of – not really,' said the Doctor. 'I was there, once – almost got on this ship bound for New York… I was glad I didn't in the end, it hit an iceberg. But that's a whole other story.'

'He's from… near Liverpool,' said Liv. The Doctor muttered something about lightyears. Liv continued talking. 'Could we get something to drink?'

'It's a bar,' the bartender said. 'What do you think?'

'I'll have a cup of tea,' said Liv.

'A glass of water,' said the Doctor. When the bartender went to get their drinks, the Doctor turned to Liv.

'Not the most friendly sort in Taberly, are they?' he said, as they made their way over to a table by the inn's window. Liv shrugged, and looked out towards the green – the old lady they'd been talking to before was now shouting at a pair of bemused looking ducks.

'Friendly's relative for me these days – at least they're not trying to kill us,' she said.

'I suppose so,' the Doctor chuckled. 'But even so – I wonder why they're so unwelcoming to visitors.'

'Maybe Taberly's just out of the way – small communities tend to be quite close knit, don't they?' said Liv. 'They're probably just unused to other people – give them time.'

'Ah, thank you,' said the Doctor, as the bartender arrived with Liv's tea, and the Doctor's glass of water. He set them on the table, and walked away without saying a word.

'Cheers,' Liv said, raising her teacup to the bartender's back, smiling. She took a sip, before setting it back on the saucer. 'So – think you've seen anything worth seeing yet?'

'Not a sausage,' the Doctor replied in a disappointed tone, looking glum. 'Apart from the locals giving us the cold shoulder, everything's been boringly mundane.'

'Well, I suppose not everywhere we go has to be all running and explosions, does it?' Liv smiled and took another sip of tea. 'I told you – this place is harmless.'

'I suppose not,' said the Doctor, lifting his glass of water. He took a sip, before his face screwed up.

'What's wrong, Doctor?' Liv asked. The Doctor sniffed his tumbler, before setting it down on the table.

'Nothing, it's just the water… It tastes off – like there's something extra in it, something that shouldn't be there,' he said.

'Are we talking about evil water?' Liv asked, laughing.

'Of course not,' the Doctor replied, perfectly serious. 'What's in the water – now that's an entirely different kettle of fish…'

He reached into his coat and withdrew his sonic screwdriver – he aimed it at the glass tumbler on the table in front of him, and switched it on.

'Let's give it a quick scan,' he said. The screwdriver hummed, and the water in the glass began to bubble and froth.

'What's it doing?' Liv asked.

'Resisting,' the Doctor replied.

'Resisting?' Liv exclaimed. 'How can it be resisting? It's water – it's not alive!'

'Not the water – something in the water,' the Doctor replied. 'The water's just a carrier – come on!'

He urged the sonic on, as though his words were going to make any difference to the device – but then, there was a shattering sound as the glass exploded, covering the table in water. The Doctor and Liv instinctively leapt back as they were showered in glass.

'What did you do?' Liv asked. The Doctor shrugged.

'Nothing – I was just scanning it,' he said, leaning forward to examine the remains of the glass, and the water on the table. 'The glass, shattering just now – it was caused by whatever was in the water.'

'Well, that's just great,' said Liv, looking at her tea sadly. 'I suppose Destrana's going to have to wait, isn't it?'

'I'm afraid so,' said the Doctor, frowning. 'Something alien in the water – that takes precedence.'

'So, what do we need to do?' Liv asked.

'Back to the TARDIS – scan for recent celestial activity, unusual energy sources. The usual,' said the Doctor, pushing his chair away from the table and standing up. 'I suppose we'll have to pay the barman – do you have any money?'

Liv shook her head.

'Nothing we can use in this time zone, anyway,' she said. The Doctor sighed.

'Then we'd better hope he's got a card reader,' said the Doctor, brandishing the sonic screwdriver again. 'Then, we need to find some more water – I can do a proper analysis back in the TARDIS.'

They paid the barman – he raised an eyebrow when the Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at his card machine, but offered no opposition once the device confirmed that the payment had indeed been successful. He watched the Doctor and Liv with a suspicious eye as they left the pub, before heading into one of the back rooms. He pulled a mobile phone out from his pocket and dialled a number – he pressed it to his ear and waited.

'Put me through to Professor Holloway,' he said, once the call had connected. 'Tell him it's urgent – there are two strangers in Taberly. And one of them's a Time Lord.'

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I'm back! Note to self - a hiatus from writing should not happen again. Anyway, this story is going to be published one chapter a week for the next eight weeks - probably on Sundays. I really like it (I hope you guys do too). For anyone interested, this story is set just before the Big Finish boxset Doom Coalition 1. The Doom Coalition boxsets are awesome, and probably one of the best Doctor Who stories I've ever encountered. I hope you enjoy this story, please leave a review - it helps so much to keep me writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor and Liv made their way back towards the TARDIS, pausing only to fill a small flask that the Doctor had found in his satchel from a tap set in the side wall of the Taberly Inn. As they neared the green, Liv eyed the summer seats by the duck pond quickly.

'At least the pensioner from hell's gone,' she said, as they stepped onto the grass and made their way towards the TARDIS. The Doctor produced his key, and slid it into the police box's lock, but didn't turn it. Instead, he began to jiggle it around, pantomiming a jammed lock.

'Don't look right now,' he said quietly, 'but we seem to have a shadow.'

'Where?' Liv asked, lowering her voice to match the Doctor's.

'Over there - on the other side of the green, near the church.'

Liv allowed a few seconds to pass before she looked around. She could see someone, standing by the church with a camera aimed right at them, the dying sunlight glinting from its lens.

'He's been following us ever since we left the Inn,' the Doctor explained.

'Do you recognise him?' Liv asked, finishing her sweep of the village before turning back to the Doctor.

'What makes you think I'd recognise him?' the Doctor asked. 'I've never been to Taberly before in my life. Well, this one, anyway – and I'm pretty sure I don't remember being here before that either.'

'Fair point,' Liv admitted. 'I wonder who he is…'

'Only one way to find out,' said the Doctor, leaning out from behind the TARDIS and waving at the photographer with a grin. 'Good evening! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?'

'Did you really just do that?' Liv asked, giving the Doctor an exasperated look. She glanced towards the photographer again, who had let the camera drop around his neck, and was looking slightly unsure of himself.

'Of course,' the Doctor replied, placing the TARDIS's key back into his pocket and walking towards the photographer. As they grew closer, Liv was able to more easily discern the man's features – he was young, maybe early twenties, with sandy blond hair sticking out from a beanie hat, and a slightly fearful expression. The Doctor smiled as he climbed over the low-hanging chain that marked the boundary of the green.

'Hello there,' he said. 'I'm the Doctor.'

'Douglas,' the young man said. 'My name, I mean. Douglas Hamill.'

'Hello Douglas,' said the Doctor. 'This is my friend Liv Chenka – we couldn't help but notice that you've been taking pictures of us.'

'Um, yeah,' said Douglas, blushing. 'Sorry about that – but you are important.'

'Any more ego boosting like that, and he'll be insufferable,' said Liv, nodding towards the Doctor. 'What do you mean, important?'

'It's just… you're the first strangers that've come to Taberly in the past six months,' said Douglas. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

'Is that so? I mean, it seems like it's a bit out of the way, but no new people in that time – at all?' he said. Douglas nodded.

'That definitely doesn't sound good,' Liv muttered. The Doctor nodded.

'No, it does not,' he said, before continuing to talk to Douglas. 'How long have you been here?'

'I've been here for a year,' Douglas replied.

'I see,' said the Doctor, nodding. 'And you're absolutely sure that no one else has visited Taberly in all of that time?'

'No one who wants to stay for any length of time, anyway,' said Douglas. 'A friend of mine tried to come up from London – each time, something got in the way: car broke down, landslide in the mountain – malfunctioning satnav.'

'But Taberly's not entirely cut off?' Liv asked. Douglas shook his head.

'Supplies can get in – lorries carrying food, clothes, stuff like that.'

'Hasn't anyone noticed that there's a town in England that no one can visit?' Liv asked.

'No one apart from me and my friend,' said Douglas, with a shrug. 'As you said, Doctor, it's a bit out of the way – not many people come here anyway.'

'Why didn't your friend try and hitch a ride with one of the lorries?' the Doctor asked. 'If they're all getting through, I mean.'

'We tried that,' said Douglas. 'The lorry broke down five miles away from here.'

'Coincidence?' asked Liv. The Doctor shook his head.

'In my experience, there's no such thing,' he said. 'So what changed – six months ago, I mean. Why did Taberly stop taking visitors?'

Douglas turned, and pointed north.

'At the foot of the valley, there's a water-purification plant – it supplies water to the whole valley,' he said. 'They started building it eighteen months ago – it came online about seven months ago, now.'

'Just a month before people stopped being able to get into Taberly?' said Liv.

'Another 'coincidence',' the Doctor muttered. 'This new plant gets switched on, and a month later things start getting spooky – that adds up in all the wrong ways.'

'So why did you come here?' Liv asked Douglas. 'You said you'd been here for a year.'

'The man in charge of the Taberly plant is called Professor Graham Holloway,' said Douglas. 'He was one of my lecturers at university – I never really liked him much, but the man was a genius. About two years ago, he quit his post at the university, and disappeared off the face of the earth for six months. When the Taberly plant was announced, he was named Plant Director.'

'Disappeared?' the Doctor asked.

'Well, no one saw him in all that time,' said Douglas. 'At least, no one I've ever spoken to. The official story is that he went to Japan, but that story falls apart the minute you start digging into it.'

'So you followed him here?' the Doctor asked. 'Why?'

'Not exactly,' said Douglas. 'Just before Professor Holloway quit the university, he came to Taberly on a research expedition with another member of the university faculty – Danny Richmond. Doctor Richmond was my mentor – I helped out with some of his research, and we got along really well. He told me about the expedition – trace amounts of an unknown chemical element were detected in the Taberly area, and they came to try and track down the source. They were investigating a cave system near the foot of the valley.'

'When was this expedition?' the Doctor asked.

'Two years ago,' said Douglas. 'Just before Professor Holloway disappeared – as well as Danny Richmond. Only he didn't come back, like Holloway did.'

'Richmond disappeared as well?' said Liv.

'Yeah, and I never managed to track him down,' said Douglas. 'I searched for him for months – no one else was interested, Danny didn't have any family or anything. So I tried to contact Professor Holloway just after he took his post at the plant – except he didn't want anything to do with me. Wouldn't agree to see me, but I wasn't going to let go without a fight.'

'You came to Taberly to see him,' said the Doctor. Douglas nodded.

'Yeah, that's right,' he said. 'I managed to surprise him one morning, near the plant – it was still being built at the time, but he was there to oversee the construction. I tried to ask him a few questions – what had happened to Doctor Richmond – but he wouldn't answer, just had site security throw me out.'

'So why did you stay?' asked Liv.

'Danny was a good mentor, and a good friend,' said Douglas. 'I don't know what happened to him – but Graham Holloway does. I'm going to make him tell me, one way or another.'

'Tell me about what happened when the plant got switched on,' said the Doctor, but Douglas never got the chance to reply. Something hit the Doctor's side – he staggered away in shock, only to find the old woman who'd shouted at them earlier standing there, brandishing her walking stick at him.

'I told you earlier – you're not supposed to walk on the grass!' she exclaimed, gesturing to the trail of footprints the Doctor and Liv had made on their way across the green towards Douglas.

'I'm sorry – but there's really no reason to attack me!' the Doctor replied, clutching his side and wincing. 'At the end of the day, it's only a patch of grass.'

'Doesn't matter,' the old woman said. 'You shouldn't walk on it! It's not allowed!'

She raised her stick again, brandishing it dangerously, and Liv grabbed the Doctor's arm.

'Doctor, maybe we should go,' she said. The Doctor nodded.

'That seems like a good idea,' he said.

'The cottage I'm renting isn't far from the village,' said Douglas pointing over his shoulder. 'Five minutes' walk – we'll reach it in no time.'

'That sounds good,' said the Doctor. 'Lead the way, Douglas.'

They set off quickly, leaving the old woman behind, still waving her stick in the air after them. Eventually, she gave up her pursuit, and returned to her summer seat by the duck pond.

* * *

'Send Miss French up, immediately.'

'Right away, Professor Holloway.'

Graham Holloway released the button on the intercom through to his secretary, and relaxed back in his chair. He closed his eyes, and turned his head to the ceiling. He only moved when the door opened, and a young woman entered – she wore her hair back in a severe fashion, and a stony expression on her face. She took a seat on the other side of Holloway's desk, and waited.

'We have strangers. In Taberly,' Holloway told her.

'That's impossible.'

'Apparently not,' said Holloway. 'And according to Brother Hark, one of them's a Time Lord.'

Miss French's mouth twitched, but otherwise, she showed no reaction.

'What do you want me to do?' she asked.

'Go to Taberly,' Holloway ordered. 'Tomorrow. Two objectives – firstly, observe the strangers; find out why they're here. Secondly, find the Time Lord's TARDIS and have it brought here. In addition to stopping the Time Lord from informing the rest of his interfering race, if we can gain access, the technology inside could be… useful.'

'Of course, Professor.' Miss French stood up, and left the office.

* * *

Douglas led the way along a narrow country road to a tiny cottage overlooking the valley. The Doctor and Liv waited as Douglas fought with the lock on the door, before entering. The cottage's interior was cramped, but cosy – a laptop was open on a low table, alongside an untidy pile of printouts of various news articles and maps.

'It's not much,' said Douglas, blushing as he closed the door – he obviously hadn't been expecting visitors when he left the cottage this morning. He moved around the room quickly, tidying up some of the papers and straightening his laptop. 'Sorry about the mess.'

'Oh, you should see the Doctor's… house,' said Liv, smiling. The Doctor looked offended, but he let the jibe slide.

'Quite a nice view,' he said, peering through one of the windows. 'Right down to the bottom of the valley – is that the Taberly water plant there?'

He pointed through the window, towards a group of grey buildings in the distance. Douglas nodded.

'That's why I picked this place,' he said, handing the Doctor a pair of powerful binoculars. The Doctor accepted them, and held them up to his eyes, looking through the window.

'Everything looks normal, for a water plant,' said the Doctor. 'Apart from that building, near the eastern fence - what is that?'

'It's marked on the plans as a storage building,' said Douglas, checking one of the maps on his table as the Doctor handed the binoculars to Liv.

'I can't see them storing much in there – it's tiny!' said Liv.

'Isn't it?' said the Doctor. 'A storage room – very likely. I wonder what's really inside.'

'I've got no idea,' said Douglas, shaking his head. 'And I can't get anywhere near it – security on that building in particular is extra strong.'

'You've tried to get into the compound?' Liv asked. Douglas nodded.

'Not long after they switched the plant on – I got right up to the fence, but the guards spotted me before I could cut my way through. I only just managed to get away before they caught me.'

'I see,' the Doctor muttered.

'Security's tight during the day – twenty guards on rotating patrols,' said Douglas. 'At night, it's even worse; that number goes up to thirty.'

'Cameras?' the Doctor asked.

'Everywhere,' Douglas responded. 'I don't know exactly how many – the plans don't show them.'

'You're thinking about breaking in?' Liv asked, looking up at the Doctor.

'Only if the tried and true method of getting in doesn't work first.' He nodded.

'What's that?' Douglas asked.

'Walking straight up to the front door and knocking,' Liv said. 'It works surprisingly well – most of the time.'

'That'll never work,' Douglas scoffed.

'Of course it will, it never fails – I'll just tell them I'm from health and safety,' said the Doctor. 'You can get in anywhere if you tell them you're from health and safety.'

Douglas didn't look like he believed the Doctor, but he didn't press the point.

'I can't go to the plant just yet, though,' said the Doctor. 'Not until I know a bit more about what's in the water. I need some idea of what I'm looking for.'

'I can help you there,' said Douglas, lifting something up from the kitchen bench, beside the sink – it was a cooking pot, the inside of which was lined with some sort of crystalline deposit. He held it out towards the Doctor, who looked into it with interest. 'I boil all of the water I use, ever since I found out about this.'

'Now, that's very interesting,' said the Doctor, taking the pot from Douglas and examining closely. He held it up, and sniffed the deposit, before tapping the pot – it made a dull sort of sound as it connected with his knuckles.

'What is it?' Liv asked. The Doctor produced his sonic screwdriver and held it above the pot, the blue light pulsating softly.

'Some sort of chemical residue,' he replied, examining the sonic once he'd finished waving it around the pot. 'The exact signature's difficult to isolate – but it's definitely alien.'

'Are you sure?' Liv asked.

'No,' the Doctor admitted, 'but the screwdriver doesn't recognise it, that's for sure. Doesn't mean it's from another planet – it might just be a previously undiscovered element from here, on Earth.'

'That's possible, I suppose,' said Liv.

'Sorry, but it sounded like you just said the deposit was alien.' Douglas looked perplexed.

'Did I?' the Doctor muttered, distractedly, still examining the residue in the pot. 'My apologies. Must have been a slip of the tongue.'

Douglas looked as though he was about to argue with the Doctor's excuse, but Liv started talking before he got the chance.

'You think someone, or something, at the water plant's responsible, don't you?' she asked the Doctor.

'It's a distinct possibility,' said the Doctor. 'I'd even go so far as to say that it's probable – maybe even certain. But I can't be sure – what if it's just a natural occurrence? I need to get into that plant, and see for myself.'

'Don't you want to go back to the TARDIS and see what this stuff is?' Liv asked. The Doctor shook his head.

'No, I want _you_ to go back to the TARDIS and see what this stuff is,' he replied, with a grin. Liv scowled at him.

'You don't want me to come with you to the plant?' she asked.

'There's less chance of getting caught if there's only one of us – after all, it's harder to spot one person than two,' the Doctor replied. 'Besides, we don't want to put our eggs all in one basket – it's good to multitask.'

'So, you get to go on the exciting, daring, secret mission to infiltrate a high security compound, while _I_ get to go and do experiments on a cooking pot,' Liv said, sounding deflated.

'Well, 'experiments' is a bit optimistic,' said the Doctor. 'The TARDIS's scanning equipment's quite easy to operate – it's a bit like using a microwave, really.'

'You're not helping,' said Liv, frowning at the Doctor – nevertheless, she took the pot from him.

'There's no point in going anywhere tonight,' said the Doctor. 'It's getting dark – in a few minutes, I wouldn't stand a chance of seeing my hand in front of my face, never mind finding my way over the fields to a high security compound.'

'You can stay here,' said Douglas, pointing to a door at the side of the room. 'There's a spare bedroom just through there – only a single bed, though.'

'That's alright, Liv can use that,' said the Doctor. 'I've had the recommended eight hours of shuteye for this month. If I feel tired, I'll use the sofa.'

Again, Douglas looked perplexed, but this time decided that any argument was unnecessary.

'What about Douglas?' Liv asked in an undertone.

'What about him?' the Doctor asked.

'Can we trust him?'

'He's the only person in Taberly not giving us the cold shoulder,' said the Doctor, shrugging. 'I don't think we have much choice – take him with you tomorrow, and keep an eye on him.'

'You want me to take him with me – to the TARDIS?' Liv seemed incredulous.

'Why not? The TARDIS is an excellent judge of character,' said the Doctor. 'If Douglas isn't genuinely trying to help us, she'll know – and hopefully, she'll try and warn you.'

Liv mulled this over.

'Alright,' she said, after a few moments. 'And listen – don't get yourself killed tomorrow, either.'

'I wouldn't dream of it,' said the Doctor, removing his satchel and setting it down beside the sofa. 'Be careful in Taberly, too.'

'Why? What have I got to worry about – apart from a pensioner with a walking stick?' Liv smiled. The Doctor sighed.

'I don't suppose you're ever going to let me live that down, are you?' he asked with an exasperated tone. Liv shook her head.

'Not for a very long time.'

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far.** **Please leave a review - it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	3. Chapter 3

Liv awoke the next morning to the smell of frying eggs wafting through the cottage. The Doctor was already awake – Liv doubted that he'd even slept – and sitting on the sofa with Douglas' laptop open. She peered over his shoulder at the screen; he'd evidently been reading various news articles about the water plant.

'Find anything?' she asked.

'Ah, you're awake,' the Doctor said – he'd been so engrossed in the article he was reading that he hadn't noticed her standing behind him. 'And no – there's nothing even remotely helpful in any of these articles. It seems Professor Graham Holloway is keen to keep what goes on at the Taberly plant very much in the dark.'

'Not really that surprising,' said Liv, looking at the cooking pot on the coffee table. 'If people knew that something was going into the water that shouldn't be there...'

'Well, that's the problem – we don't know exactly what's going into the water either,' said the Doctor. Liv looked at him.

'But, that's my job, isn't it?'

The Doctor nodded.

'Yes, after breakfast,' he said. 'I'm going to the plant – I've been looking at maps of the area. I think I know the way down the valley – it's going to be a bit of a walk, but I should get there before lunchtime, as long as I don't dawdle.'

'What should I do – you know, after I've run this pot through the TARDIS' scanners?' Liv asked.

'Meet me back here at the cottage, this evening,' the Doctor replied. 'Hopefully, by that time, we'll know what the plant's putting into the water, and we'll know a little more about the plant itself – then, we can work out what we can do next.'

'Breakfast?' Douglas asked Liv, gesturing to the frying pan atop the cooker.

'Thanks,' said Liv, as Douglas manoeuvred two eggs onto a round of toast and handed the plate to her.

* * *

They set off at the same time – the Doctor heading down the valley, towards the water plant, and Liv and Douglas heading back up to Taberly village, where the TARDIS was waiting.

'I'll see you both later!' the Doctor called over his shoulder as he began to walk down the lane.

'Be careful!' Liv called back, pulling her jacket closer around her – it was a fairly chilly morning, and she made a mental note to pick up a thicker coat once they reached the TARDIS. The TARDIS… Liv bit her lip – how was she going to explain that to Douglas? He'd have to come in – the Doctor hadn't given any indication of how long the TARDIS would take to determine exactly what the substance in the cooking pot was, so she could hardly leave Douglas standing outside – this could take all day. And the Doctor always made it seem so easy, bringing someone new into his ship…

'Penny for your thoughts?' said Douglas, looking at Liv. She shook her head.

'Sorry, I was just… never mind,' she replied, with a shake of her head.

The walk into Taberly didn't take long. As they made their way towards the green, Liv looked around.

'It's very… quiet,' she said, glancing at her watch. The first thing she'd done when it had become apparent they were staying in Taberly was to set it to local time. 'I mean, it's eleven o'clock in the morning – people should be busy, going places at this time – shouldn't they?'

'Taberly's in the middle of nowhere,' Douglas explained. 'There's nowhere to go – besides, anyone who works at the plant stays there, too.'

'Really?' Liv looked at Douglas with a look of concern. 'Isn't that a bit strange?'

'Everything about the plant's strange,' Douglas said with a shrug.

'We're almost at the TARDIS,' said Liv, as they approached the green.

'The TARDIS – that phone box?' said Douglas, looking across the green to where the TARDIS was sitting. Liv nodded.

'That's what the Doctor and I… travel in,' said Liv.

'How can you travel in that thing? It doesn't have wheels,' said Douglas, as they stepped onto the grass.

'It doesn't really need wheels,' said Liv, as she pulled a key from her pocket. 'It's… listen, Douglas – you might want to prepare yourself for a bit of a shock.'

'What sort of shock?'

Liv didn't get the chance to reply – she'd just pushed the key into the TARDIS' lock when something whizzed past her ear and struck one of the doors. She looked down – a stone was lying at her feet.

'Who…' She turned around to see who'd thrown the stone. The pensioner who'd heckled them yesterday was standing by the duck pond, readying another stone.

'You're not supposed to walk on the grass!' she screamed.

'Is there something wrong with her?' Liv asked Douglas, as she ducked another stone.

'Mrs Batt?' Douglas shook his head. 'She's not the most friendly sort – but nice enough. I've never seen her attack someone before.'

'Well, she's having a good go at it,' Liv said, twisting the key – the TARDIS door opened, and she sighed.

'Remember that shock I warned you about?' she said to Douglas.

'You want me to go inside?' he said, looking confused.

'Well, it's your choice – the police box, or the mad, stone-throwing pensioner,' said Liv. Douglas looked for a moment at the TARDIS's doors, before a stone flew into his arm, making his mind up for him. He stepped up, through the police box's doors.

'It's all dark,' his voice came from inside the police box. 'There's nothing… Oh my god…'

Liv followed him, and moment later the door closed, just in time to deflect another stone.

* * *

'How on earth…' Douglas' mouth was hanging agape as he turned, soaking in every inch of the TARDIS's cavernous control room. Liv allowed herself a small smile as she moved over to the wooden console and touched one of the many switches – behind her, the huge double doors linking the TARDIS's interior to its exterior creaked shut.

'It's bigger on the inside…'

'Yes,' said Liv, grinning at the look on Douglas' face.

'What on earth is this thing?' he asked.

'It's a time machine,' said Liv. Douglas, although he still looked thunderstruck, nodded.

'Is it bad that I think that's more plausible than it being bigger on the inside?' he asked. Liv laughed. Douglas swallowed, before continuing. 'Are you aliens?'

'The Doctor is,' said Liv, 'but I'm as human as you are. I'm from the future, though. Earth – this time period, it's all ancient history to me.'

'Let me get this straight – the Doctor's an alien, this… TARDIS is a time machine, and you're from the future?' said Douglas.

'That's right,' said Liv, wondering how long this was going to go on.

'Are there other aliens?'

'Lots,' said Liv. 'And most of them want to kill you.'

'This is… amazing,' Douglas breathed as he moved towards the console.

'Just don't touch anything,' said Liv, watching nervously as Douglas set his hands on one of the panels. 'The TARDIS's controls are pretty sensitive – press the wrong button, and we end up three hundred years in the past.'

'Oh, sorry,' said Douglas, as the TARDIS let out a little burble. Liv remembered what the Doctor had said about the TARDIS being an excellent judge of character – the burble had sounded fairly content.

'Come on, let's find one of the TARDIS's labs,' she said.

'It's got labs – labs, _plural?_ ' said Douglas, looking incredulous.

'Oh, the TARDIS goes on for miles,' said Liv as she walked towards the corridor leading away from the control room and further into the time machine. 'The Doctor says it's infinite – I find a new room every day; makes it really difficult when you're looking for a bathroom.'

'Why does it look like an old drawing room?' Douglas asked as he joined her in walking down the corridor.

'You'd have to ask the Doctor,' said Liv. 'It's always looked like this, for me anyway.'

They found one of the labs, but not before accidentally ending up in a cinema and the swimming pool. The laboratory was surprisingly different to the rest of the TARDIS – the walls here were white, and covered in backlit circles that Liv had seen in several other rooms around the ship. There was an array of scientific apparatus around the room, some of which Liv recognised; other pieces were totally alien to her. Fortunately, the scanner was labelled quite clearly – it was set inside one of the circles on the walls. Liv pulled a petri dish from one of the cupboards, and took the cooking pot from Douglas' rucksack.

Using a scalpel taken from a drawer, she scraped some of the chemical deposit from inside the pot onto the dish, before setting it inside the scanner. She pulled the cover of the scanner back into place, and a little holographic display lit up on the next roundel.

'Like using a microwave,' Liv repeated to herself as she pushed the large red button marked 'Scan' – inside the roundel, a series of blue flashes erupted around the petri dish, before the scanner fell silent. There was a few moments of inactivity, before the roundel opened, revealing the petri dish, which was smoking slightly.

'Is that it?' Douglas asked, looking nervous.

'I have absolutely no idea,' said Liv, examining the petri dish. The chemical inside seemed unchanged. 'Truthfully, I've never used this equipment before.'

They jumped as another roundel popped open, and a ream of paper shot out. Liv reached out, and pulled the paper away from the roundel – it snapped shut again as soon as the paper tore away from the next sheet.

'Oh, great,' Liv muttered, looking at the paper.

'What's wrong?' Douglas asked.

'It's this… language,' said Liv, showing Douglas the printout. There was no writing on the report – just a series of twisting, circular images which he could make no sense of whatsoever.

'Language?' he said. 'They're just drawings.'

'No, I think this is the Doctor's language,' said Liv. 'I've seen him reading it before – coordinates, that sort of thing. The TARDIS usually translates alien languages, but apparently, its powers don't extend to this.'

'So, what do we do?' asked Douglas. 'Back to the cottage?'

'I thought this was going to take longer,' said Liv, frowning. 'The Doctor's not back until this evening, and I don't really fancy spending the day waiting around for him – either here in the TARDIS or at the cottage.'

'You want to follow him?' Douglas asked.

'No, he's right – he's got the best chance of getting into that place on his own,' said Liv, shaking her head. 'But I wonder is there something else we can do…'

An insistent buzzing started up, suddenly. Douglas looked up in alarm.

'What's that?' he asked.

'An alert,' said Liv, seriously – she was already moving towards the corridor again, folding up the scanner's printout and pushing it into her coat pocket. 'Come on, back to the control room – quickly!'

She practically ran back to the control room, almost losing Douglas in the tangled corridors. Eventually, they arrived back, and Liv went straight to console, where a red light was flashing.

'What's that mean?' Douglas asked.

'I wish I knew,' said Liv, 'I don't know what half of these controls do – look!'

She pointed up to a screen hanging down from the metal frame which enclosed the TARDIS's console. It had just lit up, and was showing a view of the ship's exterior – Taberly green. A woman with a severe haircut was standing at the TARDIS's doors, knocking insistently.

'Who's she?' Liv asked, looking at Douglas.

'I've never seen her before in my life,' he said with a shrug.

'It's strange,' said Liv, looking back at the scanner. 'Normally people don't notice the TARDIS – the Doctor says it's something to do with a chameleon circuit.'

'I noticed it,' said Douglas. Liv nodded.

'Maybe it's because no one new has visited Taberly in the last six months,' she said. 'A police box appearing on the village green from nowhere – people must have noticed.'

'So, who is she?' Douglas asked. 'And why's she the only one trying to get into the TARDIS?'

'Those are very good questions,' said Liv. 'And unfortunately, not ones I can answer.'

The TARDIS made an ugly, guttural sound as the woman knocked on the door again.

'Sounds like the TARDIS isn't fond of her, anyway,' said Liv.

'What are we going to do?' Douglas asked.

'The only thing we can do,' said Liv, sounding resigned. 'We can't take off – I can't fly the TARDIS – and the only way out's through those doors.'

'What are you…'

Liv didn't let Douglas finish before she hit the door switch – the double doors hummed open again, and Liv went up the steps quickly, and out of the control room.

* * *

'Hi!' said Liv, swinging the police box doors open and grinning at the woman on the other side.

'Hello,' said the woman frostily. 'My name is Miss French.'

'I'm Liv Chenka.'

'Hello Liv Chenka,' Miss French said. 'Are you a Time Lord?'

* * *

The Doctor was crouched amongst a growth of heather, Douglas' pair of binoculars pressed to his face. It wasn't far to the plant, but he wanted to be careful – he had absolutely no intention of getting captured by the plant's guards.

It seemed that the patrols covered the perimeter fence pretty completely – there was no section of left unguarded for any great length of time. If he was quick, he might just manage to undo part of the chain-link fence that ran around the perimeter of the compound, but even if he succeeded, there would only be a few seconds to hide himself on the other side before one of the guards came along. He could try and incapacitate one of the guards, but it had been a few lifetimes since he'd practiced Venusian Aikido in any serious capacity, and he didn't really fancy his chances. Maybe he could distract them somehow…

He stole across the rest of the ground towards the compound, sonic screwdriver in hand. As he grew closer, he raised the screwdriver and switched it on – all across the compound, lightbulbs exploded as a massive power surge raced around the electrical system. The guards all stopped, looking confused – this was all the time the Doctor needed.

He held the screwdriver up to the fence – one by one, the links snapped in time with the Doctor moving the screwdriver along the fence. Eventually, there was just enough space for him to slip through – he wasted no time, and was through and off before the next guard arrived.

The easy part was over, the Doctor thought to himself as he searched for a way inside – getting out without getting caught was going to be the difficult part.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor found the main building easily enough – everywhere in the compound was meticulously signposted, so it was just a matter of following the directions indicated on the signs. He found a fire door, and – after using the sonic screwdriver to disable the automatic alarm – went inside.

He found himself standing in a long corridor lined with offices. Glancing through the window set into the first door revealed a man sitting at a desk, watching a diagnostic program on his computer screen. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, so the Doctor moved on to the next office – it was identical to the first, except this time it was a woman watching a diagnostic screen. Each office was the same – a member of staff sitting at a computer, performing a task essential to keeping the water plant running. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary – the Doctor found this infuriating.

He decided to find a map of the internal building first – the documents Douglas had given him had only shown him the outside of the facility, not the inside. To do that, however, he'd have to get onto one of these computers – and currently, every workstation was in use.

He moved on, and came to a T-junction in the corridor – he turned into the left corridor, only to find that every door led to another office. He doubled back, and went into the other corridor. The signpost indicated that he was heading down a corridor linking the admin building to the main pump building. This seemed more promising, so he pressed on.

The pump building was a large construction, with only one room – the pumping apparatus sat in the centre of the floor, an ugly mass of pipes penetrating through the floor and descending into the earth. Technicians roamed to and fro, checking readouts and diagnostic screens as the pump carried out its work. Everyone seemed to have a purpose – only one person, a young woman, was standing away from the equipment, observing everything and scribbling furiously on a clipboard. The Doctor himself was standing on a metal gantry overlooking all of this, with a staircase on his right leading down to the floor below. He began to descend, quickly and quietly, hoping he wouldn't be spotted.

Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed when a foreman wearing a high-vis jacket shouted over the roar of the pump, and waved his arm frantically at the Doctor – he looked furious.

'Hey! You – what are you doing here? Who the hell are you?' he shouted, as he crossed the floor of the pump room towards the Doctor, whose mind had just gone into overdrive in an attempt to think up an excuse.

'Health and safety,' he called back as the foreman approached. 'Sent from London – I'm here to perform a random check of this facility.'

'You can't be,' the foreman said, a smug grin on his face – he looked like a cat that had just been introduced to a dish of the finest cream, 'because she's performing a random check.'

He stabbed a finger at the woman with the clipboard, who was looking at them out of the corner of her eye.

'Is she really?' The Doctor cursed internally. 'This is really rather embarrassing, but…'

He didn't get a chance to finish, because the young woman was striding over, calling out in greeting. The foreman looked over at her, looking annoyed.

'He's with me! He's with me!' she was shouting, waving her clipboard at the Doctor and the foreman. 'He's my, um – assistant, for want of a better word.'

'Really?' The foreman looked between the Doctor and the woman disbelievingly. 'Can you prove this?'

'How do you expect me to prove it?' the woman shot back, looking angry. 'You don't need any higher authority than my word – you've obstructed my duties enough already today. If you don't stop, I will have no choice but to lodge a complaint with your superiors.'

The foreman looked grumpy, but seemed to think on the woman's words.

'He stays with you – at all times,' he said, giving the woman a dirty look as he turned back to the pump and left them. The Doctor waited until he was out of earshot before turning to the woman.

'Thank you,' he said.

'You're very welcome,' said the woman. 'Now you can tell me what you're really doing here – I don't imagine you're any more of a health and safety inspector than I am.'

'You're quite right,' the Doctor chuckled. 'Let's stick with 'concerned citizen' for now.'

'A protestor?' the woman raised an eyebrow.

'Something like that,' the Doctor tilted his head from side to side. 'And you?'

'A journalist,' said the woman. 'Freelance, in this case.'

'I see,' said the Doctor. 'I used to travel with a journalist – she was like you, had a habit of sneaking into places she shouldn't have been.'

'It's a habit we have,' the woman laughed.

'I'm the Doctor.'

'Holly Granger,' said the woman. 'Nice to meet you 'Doctor' – is that some sort of codename, or handle?'

'Not in the slightest,' the Doctor replied. 'I must admit I'm surprised to find someone else investigating the plant – I was under the impression that everyone was very much turning a blind eye to its activities.'

'Not everyone,' Holloway replied with a shake of her head. 'I've been looking into the plant for the last six weeks, really. Nothing about it adds up – certainly not its director, Professor Holloway. He disappeared off the face of the earth for six months, nobody knows where he went or what he did. By all accounts, he came back a changed man.'

'Is that so?' said the Doctor. 'In my experience, that never bodes well.'

'And all studies of this area before the plant was set up said that any operation to extract water would be too inefficient,' Holly continued.

'So why would anyone want to start up a state of the art facility?' The Doctor nodded in understanding.

'That's what I'm here to find out,' said Holly.

'You and me both,' said the Doctor. 'Well, there's no time like the present – shall we have a look around, Miss Granger?'

* * *

Liv slammed the TARDIS's door and raced back into the control room, hammering the door switch with her fist. There was a hum and a click as the doors sealed themselves quickly, before Liv raced around and switched on the scanner again. Miss French was still outside, looking straight up at the TARDIS.

'We need to get out of here,' Douglas urged.

'We can't, I don't know how to fly the TARDIS,' Liv replied, looking at the controls – the Doctor always made it look so easy, but she hadn't the slightest idea how to operate the myriad controls and systems laid out on the console before her.

'You must know something!' Douglas protested, as Miss French knocked on the TARDIS's door again. Liv shook her head.

'This is a time machine,' she said. 'It's not exactly like riding a bicycle. The Doctor's the only person who knows how to fly it.'

'So, we're trapped?'

'Looks that way,' said Liv. 'Fortunately, the TARDIS's doors are impenetrable once they're locked.'

'Really?' Douglas didn't look much reassured.

'That's what the Doctor says,' Liv continued. 'We need to figure out another way out of here.'

'Look!' Douglas exclaimed, pointing at the scanner suddenly. 'What's that?'

A large truck was reversing across the green towards the TARDIS. Miss French stepped out of the way as a large crane arm extended upwards, and two men moved towards the TARDIS to attach a set of cables.

'It looks like they're going to lift the TARDIS,' said Liv, beginning to panic.

'Can we stop them?'

'No, I don't think so.'

On the scanner, one of the men was beginning to operate the crane mechanism, the cables beginning to lose their slack. They pulled taut, and the TARDIS began to lift away from the green.

'Woah!' Douglas exclaimed, as the TARDIS control room lurched to the side, grabbing hold of one of the metal pylons surrounded the TARDIS's console. Liv gripped the edge of the console for support, but the control room continued to tilt, the floor becoming more steeply inclined with every passing second. Soon, she would lose her footing, and fall.

There was a loud _chunk_ noise, and the TARDIS shifted suddenly. Liv cried out as she fell towards the console, putting her hands out instinctively as she fell – she fell right onto a bank of controls, pressing too many switches all at once. Liv felt her heart chill as the glass tubes inside the central column extending up from the TARDIS console began to oscillate, and the engines began their rhythmic humming.

'No!' she shouted, but it was too late – the TARDIS was already in flight.

* * *

Miss French gave a roar of anger as the police box on the back of the lorry began to issue a heaving, groaning sound. The cables binding the TARDIS fell uselessly to the floor as the time ship dematerialised, leaving Miss French furiously shouting at the two men supposed to be hoisting it onto the lorry. Then she ducked as a stone sailed past her head, thrown by an elderly pensioner from near the duck pond.

'You're not supposed to walk on the grass!'

* * *

Through the afternoon, the Doctor and Holly made an extensive tour of the Taberly plant, with Holly scribbling something quickly onto her clipboard every time they found something of interest. The Doctor could tell she was dying to corner him with no distractions and interrogate him more fully on his own motivations for investigating the plant, but to do so now would have been suicidal – after all, they were deep in enemy territory.

'Just one last building,' Holly said, checking another box off on her list. 'It's just named as 'Annex One' on this list.'

'Where is it?' the Doctor asked.

'The eastern fence,' said Holly, checking her clipboard. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, remembering the building he'd spotted through Douglas' binoculars earlier.

'Is it really?' he said. 'Well, I suppose we'd better be on our way, then.'

They made their way over to the eastern fence, finding the building easily enough. However, the door to Annex One was locked tight, a bulky electronic lock sealing it shut.

'How are we going to get in here?' Holly muttered. 'All of these buildings were supposed to be unlocked.'

'Have no fear,' said the Doctor as he surreptitiously pulled the sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket. 'I'm not above breaking and entering.'

'Hey! What are you two doing there?'

The Doctor and Holly turned around to find the foreman from the pumping room approaching them, with a furious expression on his face.

'You're not allowed in there!' he shouted, as he approached.

'I think you'll find I am,' said Holly, pulling an envelope from her pocket. 'As I've told you already today, this document gives me unrestricted access to every area on this site.'

'That building's private,' the foreman said, glaring at Holly, although he wasn't nearly as intimidating as he would've liked – Holly was glaring back defiantly.

'Do you even know the meaning of the word 'unrestricted', hmm?' she said. 'Can you open this door? If so, do it now.'

'I don't have to do anything you say,' said the foreman. 'You've been sneaking around all day, putting your nose into place where it isn't wanted. I don't even think you are from health and safety.'

'Mr Winchester, I suggest you return to the pumping room,' said Holly. 'If you're not there, that area is missing its foreman, and that is a dangerous situation. Return at once, or I'll be forced to include your negligence in my report.'

The foreman, Winchester, glared at Holly for another few seconds, before spinning on his heel and stalking away from Annex One without another word. The Doctor noted that he wasn't heading for the pump building, but was in fact walking straight towards the main administration building.

'He's onto us,' Holly muttered, evidently noticing the foreman's destination as well. 'You were saying something about breaking and entering?'

'I believe I was,' said the Doctor, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the lock on Annex One's main door. He switched it on, and the bulb lit up – the lock clicked open, the door swinging open.

'After you, Miss Granger,' the Doctor said, allowing Holly to enter the Annex first. Inside, there was a cramped main room full of boxes. The Doctor leaned forward and read the labels on a few.

'These look like electrical components, mostly,' he said. 'Replacement lightbulbs, that sort of thing – nothing too interesting, really.'

'Same over here,' said Holly, reading the labels on another few boxes. 'Nothing else.'

'That's disappointing,' the Doctor muttered. He'd been so sure there was going to be something in Annex One… There was no real purpose for it – everything inside could easily be stored in the main warehouse on the other side of the compound.

'Keep looking – there must be something in here,' he said to Holly. He began to hunt around the rest of the Annex, pushing boxes out of the way to see behind them. Unfortunately, he was invariably met with a blank patch of wall – the boxes were concealing nothing, it seemed.

Then, Holly struck gold.

'Doctor! Look at this!'

The Doctor walked over to where she was standing beside a large wall of boxes – she pulled a few out of the way, revealing a passageway beyond.

'Excellent work, Holly!' The Doctor grinned as he peered between the boxes. 'That looks like a staircase, going down – here, help me move these boxes.'

Together, they dismantled the wall of boxes – there was indeed a staircase going underground.

'I'll go first,' said the Doctor. 'You follow behind, and listen for anyone following us.'

The staircase wound downwards for a long time – as they progressed, concrete walls eventually gave way to hewn stone. There were lights on the walls, and signs indicating the depth they had travelled to. There were no doors or other exits from the stairwell – it seemed their only possible destination was whatever lay at the bottom of the staircase.

'I think this is the end of line,' said the Doctor as they finally reached a level where there was no staircase that continued to descend into the earth. Instead, there was a short corridor, which ended abruptly after just a few metres. At the end of the corridor was a door.

'What's through there?' Holly asked, briefly consulting her clipboard. 'This isn't on the schematics of the facility.

'Someone's hiding something,' the Doctor said, with a note of glee in his voice. 'Come on – let's have a look.'

He approached the door – to his surprise, it was unlocked. Perhaps whoever wanted this area hidden had been sure that the lock on Annex One was going to do the job of keeping prying eyes out.

On the other side was a well-lit cave – it was huge, and mostly taken up by a lake of greenish water. The banks of the lake were covered in equipment and plunging into the lake itself was a large pipe.

'I bet that goes up to the main pumping room,' said Holly, her eyes following the pipe up into the ceiling.

'I imagine so, yes,' the Doctor replied, with a nod of his head. 'The water - it doesn't look very clean, does it?'

'I can't even see the bottom,' said Holly, peering over the edge of the bank as the Doctor crouched down, extending his sonic screwdriver. He switched it on, and the water began to bubble.

'Aha!' he called out. 'As I expected – the water's resisting.'

'What do you mean it's resisting?' Holly asked.

'I scanned a glass of water in the Taberly Inn when I first arrived here,' said the Doctor. 'It really didn't like it – the results were… explosive. And now the lake's doing the same thing.'

'Water can't resist, it's not alive,' Holly pointed out.

'But something in the water is,' the Doctor said, standing back up.

'How very astute of you.'

The Doctor and Holly wheeled around to find a middle aged man with glasses and a strange look on his face standing in the doorway back up to the facility. He regarded them curiously, as though they were specimens beneath a microscope.

'Professor Holloway, I take it?' said the Doctor. The man nodded, a small smile forming on his face as he did so.

'And you must be the Time Lord Brother Hark spoke of,' Holloway said. 'I'm impressed you managed to find this place – it's not on any plan of the facility that I'm aware of.'

'Sometimes you just have to follow your instinct and see where you end up,' said the Doctor. Behind Holloway, there came the sound of footsteps from the stairwell leading back up to the facility.

'Quite right,' said Holloway. 'Which is exactly why I'm going to follow _my_ instincts, which are telling me that you are a threat to our operations. You will be taken upstairs and interrogated.'

'And then?' Holly asked. 'I presume you're not just going to let us go.'

'Another very astute conjecture,' Holloway smiled at her. 'No, you will both be killed. Guards!'

Four of the guards that had been patrolling the perimeter of the facility came out of the corridor and surrounded the Doctor and Holly.

'You won't get away with this,' Holly spat as two of the guards grabbed her by the arms. 'People know I'm here.'

'Then they will also be disposed of,' Holloway said calmly, watching as the other two guards grabbed the Doctor. 'Take them to my office and secure them. I will be along shortly.'

As the Doctor and Holly were taken into the stairwell and led back up to the facility. Holloway sighed, and closed his eyes as if composing himself. Then he crouched by the lake's edge.

'Be patient,' he said. 'Soon the facility will reach full capacity. Then you will be free, my brothers.'

He stood, and walked up through the door. He closed it behind him, and went back along the corridor to the staircase.

Silence reigned for a few moments more in the cave with the lake, the only sound the regular _plink_ of a drop of water falling from one of the many stalactites that hung over the lake.

Then there was another sound, distant and strained. It was coming from one of the many tunnels that led away from the lake and further into the cave system. It was a wheezing, groaning sound that built into a crescendo before ceasing with a dull thud.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	5. Chapter 5

Liv stood frozen by the TARDIS console, her hands hovering just above the controls she'd fallen onto only moments before. She watched as the TARDIS's central column eased to a stop, her heart hammering in her chest as the sound of the time ship's engines faded away. It was Douglas who spoke first.

'What the hell just happened?' he asked, looking over at Liv.

'I think we've moved,' she replied, glancing down at the TARDIS's readouts. Maybe there was some way to tell where they'd ended up – but the myriad dials and readouts were as alien to her as every other time she'd looked at them.

'Moved where?'

'I have no idea,' Liv answered as she looked up at the scanner – the external viewer was still on, but she could see nothing but blackness on the monitor. 'We could be anywhere in the universe.'

'You said this was a time machine?' Douglas asked nervously. 'So, we could also be at any point in the past or future?'

'That too,' Liv nodded her head. She bit her lip – it looked like the only way to find out where the TARDIS had taken them was to go outside, although that was something she only wanted to do after she'd exhausted every other possibility. She looked again at the controls – the time and date readouts hadn't changed, so that perhaps ruled out the possibility that they'd taken a trip through time. But Liv knew that the TARDIS's readouts were often unreliable, and even if they were true this time, that only narrowed their present location down to anywhere in the cosmos.

'Have a look in those crates over there.' Liv gestured to the side of the control room. 'See if you can find us a couple of torches – it looks pretty dark outside, we might need them.'

'We're going _outside?_ ' Douglas asked. Liv nodded.

'We can't stay in here forever,' she said, continuing her check of the TARDIS's readouts. 'And I can't make sense of any of these instruments – we need to find out what's out there for ourselves.'

* * *

The TARDIS door opened, spilling light across an uneven floor of stone. Liv stepped out and switched on her torch, casting the walls with a bright white light. The TARDIS had landed in a long tunnel of rock, which seemed to go on forever. Douglas joined her outside, switching on his own torch as he closed the TARDIS's door.

'Any ideas?' he asked. Liv shook her head.

'It's just a long tunnel,' she replied. 'I can't see anything ahead. Come on – let's take a look this way.'

She set off, sweeping her torch beam around to check for any obstacles ahead. Douglas followed, looking around nervously. The air was chilly, and damp – the walls were moist, and soon they found their jackets slick with water.

'It's freezing down here,' Douglas muttered.

'We should've brought those coats from the TARDIS,' Liv said, as they reached a bend in the corridor. Ahead, a pile of rocks lay in the way, blocking the tunnel completely.

'No way through,' Douglas said, as he rounded the corner.

'Looks like the ceiling's fallen in,' said Liv. 'But the rest of the tunnel's intact – isn't that a bit strange?'

'Dunno,' said Douglas, looking up at the ceiling fearfully. 'For all we know it could collapse at any second – maybe we should go back to the TARDIS.'

'Yeah, maybe,' Liv muttered, sweeping her torch over the pile of rocks blocking their progress. The beam caught something at the bottom. It glinted brightly – metal!

'What's that?' she said as she crouched down. As she grew closer and saw what was lying beneath the rocks, dread crawled up in her chest.

'Oh my god…'

'What is it?' Douglas asked anxiously. Liv covered her mouth with her hand.

'I think there's a body under here.'

* * *

The Doctor flexed his wrists against the tough rope binding them – he was sitting on a flimsy chair in Professor Holloway's office, his satchel and coat sitting at the side of the room. To his left, Holly was in a similar predicament – Holloway himself was standing by the window, overlooking the main part of the facility.

'Any chance of a cup of tea?' the Doctor asked, simply to break the irritating silence that had fallen since the guards had left under Holloway's orders. 'I'm parched – and if you don't mind my saying, your hospitality so far has been a little wanting.'

'Your vain chatter holds no sway with me, Time Lord.' Holloway's voice was soft. 'I am fully aware of the tricks your race can play – understand that I am not the sort to allow the wool to be pulled over my eyes so easily.'

'You know about the Time Lords?' the Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow.

'As do most of the higher species,' Holloway replied, turning away from the window and finally facing the Doctor and Holly. 'They are weak, spineless fools – all that power, but no ambition. No drive to achieve greatness. They are content to remain bound to the halls of Gallifrey, rather than venture out into the stars and take hold of what could be theirs.'

'You sound like an old friend of mine,' the Doctor muttered. 'You might as well tell me – where is it you come from then, Professor Holloway?'

'Oh, the Professor was a native of this world,' Holloway smiled. 'But he has since become something greater – he is useful to our cause.'

'I see,' said the Doctor. 'Would you mind telling me what this cause actually is?'

'This is not your interrogation, Doctor,' said Holloway. 'I shall be asking the questions – now tell me: what do you know of our operations here?'

'Not a sausage,' the Doctor replied. 'Have you got any of those? I'd rather have the tea, if I'm honest, but sausages would make for an excellent consolation prize. And failing that, there's a terrible itch on the back of my head, just above the neck. Would you mind…'

'Be silent,' Holloway said, his voice cool – the threat evident in the undertone. 'I fail to believe you – you have spent all afternoon wandering around this facility, and claim ignorance?'

'That's just about the long and short of it,' the Doctor replied with a nod.

'I see.' Holloway frowned and opened a drawer in his desk. From within it, he pulled a small handgun and levelled it at Holly's head. 'Perhaps this will motivate you to tell me the truth?'

'There's no need for the gun, Holloway,' said the Doctor. 'All I know is that you're putting something into the water, something that has no place there – I don't know what it is yet, but I fully intend to find out.'

'Is that all?' Holloway asked, the gun still unwaveringly held to Holly's temple.

'That's everything,' the Doctor said.

'I see.'

Just then, the door to Holloway's office opened and a young woman entered.

'Miss French?' Holloway asked, looking perplexed but not angry.

'The Time Lord's TARDIS is gone,' the young woman said. 'It dematerialised when we attempted to remove it from the village green.'

'Gone? What do you mean "gone"?' the Doctor asked, his voice riddled with concern.

'What is the meaning of this, Doctor?' Holloway asked, glaring at the Doctor.

'Search me – I've been here all afternoon. The TARDIS doesn't have a remote control, you know,' the Doctor replied.

'There were two of you in the Taberly Inn, according to Brother Hark,' said Holloway, closing his eyes. 'The female - you've sent her to Gallifrey, to alert the Time Lords of our presence.'

'Believe me, the last thing I want is Time Lords mucking about with planet Earth,' said the Doctor. 'I had nothing to do with the TARDIS leaving.'

'Lies!' Holloway roared, losing his cool for the first time. 'We must accelerate our plans – if the Time Lords know about our plans, they will attempt to interfere. Our operations must be increased to full capacity at once. Miss French! Make it so.'

The young woman hurried from the room, leaving Holloway pacing in front of the window. Then he reached down and pressed the intercom switch on his desk.

'Send for the guards,' he said into the microphone. 'They are to take these two down to the lower levels and execute them – hide the bodies in the caves.'

Then he released the intercom.

'Your meddling may have cost me dearly,' said Holloway, glaring once more at the Doctor. 'But not nearly as much as it has cost you and Miss Granger here.'

Then he stalked from the room without another word, gun still in hand.

* * *

Liv heaved one of the rocks away from the pile – indeed, there was a hand beneath the rock fall. The flesh had long since rotted away, leaving only pale bone and a faded jacket. The glint of light she'd spotted earlier came from an expensive looking wristwatch around the skeleton's wrist.

'That watch – it belonged to Danny Richmond,' said Douglas, going pale. Liv looked at him.

'He was the man you've been looking for?' she asked. Douglas nodded, looking as if he was going to be sick.

'I'm sorry,' Liv said, crouching down. 'Really, I am. But it looks like he's been dead for a long time.'

'Holloway never said anything about a rock fall,' said Douglas, crouching down beside her. She could hear the strain in his voice – he was barely holding himself together, that much was evident. 'Why didn't he… he should've told someone.'

'Maybe he caused it…' Liv started to speak, but then dismissed the thought. 'Never mind – if this is Danny Richmond's body then we can't have moved far. We're still in Taberly valley.'

'We must be down in the cave system,' said Douglas. 'This network goes on for miles – we could be down here forever.'

'I don't think so,' said Liv. 'Listen.'

Douglas was quiet – he strained his ears, and was just able to make out the sound of running water.

'There's supposed to be a subterranean lake down here,' he said.

'It doesn't sound like it's too far away,' said Liv. 'We should go and have a look.'

'How? The tunnel's blocked,' said Douglas.

'Maybe there's another way around,' said Liv, standing up and moving back down the corridor towards the TARDIS. 'Let's have a look.'

It took them a few tries, but eventually they found another tunnel leading around to the lake – Liv pointed across to the other bank.

'Look!' she said. 'There's a door.'

'We must be right beneath the water plant,' said Douglas, aiming his torch out over the water. 'That looks like a pump.'

'Then the Doctor can't be too far away,' said Liv with relief. 'Although, knowing him, he's probably in a whole world of trouble. Let's get up there and see if we can find him.'

They skirted around the edge of the lake, heading towards the door embedded in the rock wall opposite. As they got closer, they could hear the sounds of voices on the other side.

'Quickly! Hide,' Liv hissed, pushing Douglas in the direction of a few crates stacked against the wall. They had only just managed to conceal themselves behind the boxes when the door opened and a pair of guards pushed the Doctor and a young woman through, their hands bound behind their backs.

'I don't believe it,' Douglas whispered, his eyes fixed on the young woman. 'She actually made it…'

'You know her?' Liv asked. Douglas nodded.

'She's my friend – you know, the one who was trying to get up here and help me investigate,' he said. 'She's a journalist, good at this sort of thing.'

'So good she's managed to end up on the business end of a gun,' said Liv, watching as the guards pulled their side arms out from their holsters. 'We've got to do something.'

'Like what?' Douglas hissed.

'Like this!'

With a cry, Liv leapt out from behind their hiding spot and raced towards the guards. Douglas followed, aiming for the guard Liv wasn't tackling. He pulled the man into a powerful tackle as Liv delivered a powerful right hook into the jaw of the other guard. The Doctor and the journalist looked around as the two guards toppled into the water, covering the four in a cold spray.

'Liv?' the Doctor exclaimed.

'I can't let you go anywhere, can I?' said Liv, grinning and panting for breath. 'Where's your coat?'

'Still upstairs, in Holloway's office,' said the Doctor, shivering in just his white t-shirt. 'No sonic screwdriver – that's going to make things difficult. Help me with this rope, will you?'

Liv bent down and helped the Doctor undo the knot in his rope, as Douglas did the same with the young woman beside the Doctor.

'Aren't you going to introduce us?' Liv asked, gesturing towards the woman.

'Oh, Liv – this is Holly Granger, journalist extraordinaire,' said the Doctor. 'Holly, this is Liv, my travelling companion.'

'Nice to meet you,' said Liv. She smiled, and pointed at the Doctor. 'Thanks for looking after this one.'

'Thanks,' Holly smiled, before turning to Douglas.

'Why didn't you tell me you were coming?' he asked.

'Because I wasn't planning on staying,' said Holly. 'You know visitors can't stay long in Taberly – I thought if I was only making a brief visit, and didn't tell anyone…'

'How are they stopping people from getting into Taberly, anyway?' Liv asked.

'Probably a basic electro-magnetic array,' said the Doctor. 'Target it at specific vehicles, and you can cause them to break down. They must have one covering the entire valley.'

'Doesn't stop a good old-fashioned bicycle, though,' Holly grinned.

'Ingenious.' The Doctor grinned too.

'This is all well and good, but we should probably be making our escape,' said Liv, glancing at the door nervously. 'They're bound to notice these missing guards soon enough anyway – the TARDIS is parked in one of these tunnels.'

'The TARDIS? Excellent,' said the Doctor. 'I'd heard you'd taken her for something of a joyride. You'd better not have scratched the paintwork…'

'I've no idea how we managed it, but when that Miss French person tried moving the TARDIS, I fell onto the console,' said Liv. 'The TARDIS dematerialised, and then we were here.'

'Sounds like you activated the HADS,' said the Doctor.

'The what?'

'The HADS – Hostile Action Displacement System,' the Doctor explained. 'It's one of the TARDIS's emergency protocols – when the ship's in danger, it automatically relocates to the nearest safe location.'

'Like this cave network?' Liv asked. The Doctor nodded as they set off.

'Exactly,' he said. 'Although I suspect the TARDIS herself had more of a hand in choosing the destination than usual – it's quite convenient that you ended up down here, providing us with an escape route.'

'Where would you be without me?' Liv smiled, as they entered the tunnel. 'What do we do now?'

'Now, we head back to Douglas' rather charming cottage – time to regroup, and figure out our next steps.'

* * *

The TARDIS landed in the back garden of the cottage – Douglas put the kettle on as the Doctor sat down on the sofa, reading the printout from the TARDIS's scanner that Liv had handed him.

'Tell you anything?' she asked. The Doctor was scanning through the document carefully.

'Very interesting…' he muttered.

'What is?' Liv asked.

'That chemical element,' the Doctor said. 'The TARDIS couldn't get a proper fix on its atomic structure.'

'You mean it told you nothing?' Liv sounded exasperated.

'On the contrary – it tells us quite a lot,' said the Doctor. 'The chemical – according to the TARDIS, it doesn't exist.'

'How's that possible?' Liv asked. 'It's there, we can see it. The TARDIS must be wrong.'

'Liv, the TARDIS has a direct link to the Panopticon Archives on Gallifrey,' said the Doctor. 'Her records couldn't be more up to date – they cover all of time and space, past and future. Well, _our_ time and space.'

'You're saying this chemical came from another universe?' Liv asked. The Doctor nodded.

'I think so,' he said. 'That's what I gather from this data, anyway.'

'So how did it end up here?' Liv asked.

'That's very much what I'd like to know,' said the Doctor. 'There's too many questions, and not enough answers – and I'd very much like to change that.'

'So what do we do?' Douglas asked, sitting down on the other sofa.

'We need to get back into the compound,' said the Doctor. 'Holloway said he was stepping up his plans – and we still don't know what those are. And this time, _we_ need a proper plan.'

'Any ideas?' Liv asked.

'A few,' said the Doctor. 'But I'd rather have something more concrete to go on – so far, we've only got speculation.'

'Well, how do we get something more?' asked Holly.

'That's the question,' said the Doctor. 'And unfortunately, it's not one of the few I'm able to answer.'

'So, we're stuck,' Liv frowned.

'Well…' the Doctor said. 'Our trip to the plant didn't exactly go as planned – I'd hoped that would shed some light on the situation. Right now, I'm afraid I'm hoping for a miracle.'

'Let's look at what we do know,' said Holly. 'The plant's adding something to the water – something that seems to be making the people in Taberly averse to any outsiders.'

'Like that old woman, the one who kept trying to attack us,' said Liv.

'Exactly,' said Holly.

'And whoever's behind it have probably come from another universe,' said the Doctor.

'OK,' said Holly, looking a little uncomfortable – she'd taken the TARDIS, and Liv and Douglas' hurried explanation of the situation in her stride, but that didn't mean she was totally believing just yet. 'But what's their end goal?'

'That's still a mystery,' said Liv.

'As we were leaving the cavern, Holloway said something about "brothers",' said the Doctor.

'What do you think he meant by that?' asked Liv.

'I wonder…' the Doctor started to speak, but was cut off by the sound of engines outside.

'What on earth's going on out there?' Holly asked. The Doctor raced to the window – outside, three Range Rovers had pulled up, and guards from the Taberly plant were climbing out, taking up positions behind them. Finally, Miss French appeared from within the leading car, a loud hailer held in her hand.

'Doctor, Liv Chenka – come out now, and we will spare the lives of the other humans,' she called, her voice amplified by the hailer. 'If you are not standing before me in two minutes, we will open fire on the cottage.'

'What do we do?' Liv asked, turning to the Doctor immediately. He was thinking hard, trying to come up with something.

'Everyone outside, now,' he said, waving them back. 'Out the back way – get inside the TARDIS.'

'Too late, they're coming around the sides,' said Holly, watching through the window as guards flanked the house and took up position around the back as well. 'We're trapped.'

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	6. Chapter 6

'Alright, everyone away from the windows,' said the Doctor urgently, gathering everyone into the centre of the room.

'We don't have any weapons,' Liv pointed out. 'How are supposed to defend ourselves?'

'There's always a way,' the Doctor replied, but he sounded unsure. 'We'll think of something.'

'We'll need to do it quickly,' said Holly, glancing at her watch. 'There's one minute and thirty seconds until they come in here looking for you.'

'I've come up with plans in less time,' said the Doctor. 'Now let me think.'

He closed his eyes, focusing. After a few moments, he shook his head, as though something was irritating him.

'Oh, there it is again. Can't you feel that?' he asked, looking around at the rest of them quickly.

'Feel what?' Douglas asked.

'That itch, at the back of your head.' He was met by the sight of three shaking heads.

'What itch?' Liv asked.

'It's there,' said the Doctor, tapping just above his neck. 'An itch, just burning away – that feels like…'

'Feels like what?' Liv asked, as the Doctor trailed off.

'Like a psychic control field,' he said. Then he snapped his fingers, realisation dawning on his face.

'That's how they communicate,' he said. 'They're a hive mind – the guards, Miss French, Holloway – they're all in constant mental contact. I knew I felt something when we landed – and again, at the plant.'

'You mean they're sharing their thoughts?' Liv asked.

'No, it's more subtle than that,' said the Doctor. 'It's more instinctive than that – what one of them wants, they all want.'

'And how does this help us?' Holly asked.

'If I can concentrate, I can hijack the field,' said the Doctor, looking around. 'Deliver a shock to the system – it might be enough to incapacitate the guards here.'

'What do you need?' Liv asked.

'Peace and quiet,' said the Doctor. 'A calm environment.'

'Well, you're in the wrong place for that,' Liv said, looking nervously at the windows. 'Those guards could come in any second. If you're going to do it, you need to do it now.'

'Keep calm, Liv,' said the Doctor, sitting down on the floor, cross-legged. 'You can't rush this sort of thing – mental control is an extraordinarily sensitive operation. Who knows the damage might be caused if I lost concentration even for a second.'

He closed his eyes, and began breathing rhythmically. After a moment, he spoke, his voice measured and level.

'Contact.'

* * *

Outside the cottage, standing beside one of the Range Rovers, Miss French gasped as pain wracked through her head. She clamoured at the door of the SUV as she fell to the ground, darkness overtaking her vision. All around her, the guards were collapsing too, falling into unconsciousness in the same way.

* * *

In his plant at the Taberly water plant, Professor Graham Holloway fell towards his chair, grasping his forehead as a stabbing pain shot across it. He grimaced, but after a few moments the pain faded. Something had just attacked the psychic network – something impossibly strong…

* * *

The Doctor yelled out suddenly, and fell towards the floor.

'Catch him!' Liv yelled, but it was too late - the Doctor hit the floor with a loud _thud!_ His eyes snapped open, and he gasped for air.

'Are you alright?' Liv asked, as she helped him sit up.

'Never felt better,' he coughed, standing up and racing to the window – Liv followed him, looking for herself. The road outside was littered with the prone bodies of guards.

'Are they dead?' Liv asked.

'Of course not,' said the Doctor, giving her an exasperated look. 'They're just unconscious – but I daresay they'll have a nasty headache when they wake up.'

'Look,' said Liv, pointing towards the nearest Range Rover, where a pair of legs was sticking out from behind a wheel. 'That must be Miss French.'

'I think you're right,' said the Doctor, looking over his shoulder. 'I think it's time we conducted a little interrogation of our own – Douglas, have you got any rope?'

* * *

They had to make do with sellotape to bind Miss French's arms to one of Douglas' kitchen chairs. She was still unconscious, and the Doctor was just finishing his preparations for the interview.

'Just remember, let me do the talking,' he told the others, who all nodded in return. 'Are all the clocks set forward?'

'Just finishing it now,' said Liv, as she finished twisting an alarm clock forward by two hours and setting it on the kitchen bench where Miss French could see it.

He drew up his own chair so that he was sitting just in front of Miss French. Then he reached out and tapped her forehead with the index and middle fingers of his right hand.

'Wakey wakey,' he said, as Miss French let out a low groan, her head lolling to the side. She gazed up at the Doctor with a look of venom in her eyes.

'Good afternoon,' said the Doctor.

'Go to hell, Time Lord,' Miss French spat back.

'I've been,' said the Doctor. 'It's rather hot this time of year, but the sunsets – well, they're to die for. Quite literally, in fact.'

'Your words are nothing,' Miss French said. 'Flippancy is the last resort of a man with no idea of the true situation.'

'That's where I was rather hoping you might help me,' said the Doctor. 'I've got questions – loads of them, in fact – but I don't seem to have very many answers. I don't know about you, but I tend to like having the full set when it comes to these sort of things.'

'You'll get no answers from me,' said Miss French, glaring at her captors in turn. 'Soon, my brethren will raze this cottage to the ground. In fact, they're probably already on their way here.'

'See, that's what we thought at first as well,' said the Doctor. Then he looked towards the alarm clock beside him. 'But after the first hour, we began to think we might have gotten away with capturing you. And once the second went by…'

'You're lying,' said Miss French, looking nervously at the Doctor and the clock. 'My brethren would have come to my aid as soon as they registered the psychic distress.'

'Not so, I suppose,' said the Doctor. 'It looks like they've abandoned you, Miss French – but that's not your real name, is it? Why don't you enlighten us?'

'You are lying,' said Miss French. 'I know that Father Grek would not abandon me.'

'Ah, now who's Father Grek, hmm?' the Doctor asked. 'I bet its Professor Holloway. Am I right?'

Miss French glared at him.

'Apparently so,' said the Doctor. 'So you must be… what, a Sister?'

'Sister Filk,' Miss French offered grudgingly. 'I am Sister Filk of the Nameless.'

'The Nameless – that's your species?' the Doctor asked.

'It is,' Miss French nodded. 'We came from beyond your universe, intending to conquer new worlds. We were to establish a beachhead – a stronghold of worlds that would allow us to fully invade this universe.'

'So, I take you conducted your research before arriving?' said the Doctor. 'You obviously have – you know enough about the Time Lords.'

'Of course we ascertained the threats posed to us by this continuum,' said Miss French, as though the Doctor was stupid. 'The Time Lords, a vain, fusty old race with just enough self-importance to do something about our operations.'

'So you decided against a full scale invasion,' said the Doctor. 'Why did you come to Earth?'

'This planet is perfect for our needs – there are seven billion humans on this planet,' said Miss French. 'And the perfect delivery system for our dispersal was already in place.'

'The water,' said the Doctor.

'Precisely,' said Miss French. 'Our operations here are small scale, so far. But the humans practically begged us to set up our facility at the bottom of the valley – soon, we will have more, all across the world. And then, this world will be ours.'

'What is it you're putting into the water?' asked the Doctor. Miss French cocked her head.

'Isn't that obvious?' she asked. 'That chemical in the water – it's us.'

'You mean, we've been _drinking_ you?' Douglas exclaimed, looking disgusted.

'Oh yes,' said Miss French, with a cruel smile. 'As you can see, the end result is full bodily possession.'

'You're walking around in someone else's body?' Holly asked.

'Exactly,' said Miss French. 'Graham Holloway was the first – he fell into that lake. We arrived here four years ago, and over time we managed to leach ourselves through the surrounding rock and into the water. When Holloway fell into the lake two years ago, we were able to subsume him in a matter of moments. The real Graham Holloway died that day – the man who's been walking around ever since is Father Grek, completely and utterly.'

'And now you're stepping up operations,' said the Doctor. 'That's what Holloway said earlier – what did he mean by that?'

'Over the last two years, we've been supplying the valley with water – this valley alone,' said Miss French. 'Now, we're ready to start servicing a much larger part of England. I believe several of your major cities will soon be receiving our water – Manchester, Liverpool…'

'And you're just going to keep building,' said the Doctor. 'More facilities, more water, more people falling under your influence.'

'That's the idea,' said Miss French. 'And soon, it'll be a reality.'

'I don't think so,' said the Doctor, a cold fury burning behind his eyes. 'You obviously haven't done enough research – this planet, these people; they're under my protection. They always have been, and they always will be, right until the day I breathe my last.'

'Not for long then,' said Miss French.

'We'll see,' said the Doctor, reaching up to her forehead again. 'Goodnight, Miss French. Sleep well.'

He tapped her forehead, and once again her head fell forward; she was sound asleep.

'Now we know what we're up against,' said the Doctor, standing up and facing the others.

'What are we going to do?' Liv asked.

'Back to the plant – we have to shut it down as soon as we can,' the Doctor replied.

'You say that like it's going to be easy,' said Liv, glumly.

* * *

'Miss French has failed,' Holloway barked into a mobile phone – he was pressing the handset so closely to his head that the skin around his ear was beginning to turn red. 'The Doctor and his associates are bound to be on their way back to the plant – we must be ready for them. Our plans are moving ahead early. Inform the guards – they are to be on maximum alert. The Doctor might come from anywhere, at any time.'

He hung up on his chief of security without another word – he was livid as he moved along the corridor towards his office. Sister Filk had failed him one too many times – if she had any sense, she'd scurry away from Taberly Valley, away from England and take refuge amongst the humans somewhere very, very far away from him… He set the thoughts aside, with a note to return to them at some point in the future – after the immediate threat presented by the Doctor and those that followed him had been dealt with.

'Tell Brother Dihl I want a full report on our operational capacity in thirty minutes,' Holloway ordered his secretary as he passed her on his way into his office. 'If the Doctor or any of his friends are found, I am to be notified immediately.'

'Yes, Father Grek.'

Holloway pushed his door open and stepped inside, pausing only to shut the door behind him. When he turned to face his desk, his face suffused with fury.

'Doctor!' he exclaimed. The Doctor was sitting in the office chair, having reclaimed his coat and his satchel from the corner where they'd been left after the earlier interrogation – in the same corner now stood a tall blue police box.

'Good evening, Professor Holloway,' the Doctor said cheerfully. 'Or should that be Father Grek, I wonder? Which do you prefer?'

'There is no sound I wish to hear from you Doctor, save for your dying breath,' Holloway cursed. 'You realise that you haven't the slightest chance of stopping our operations here, don't you?'

'I'm here to give you a chance, Grek,' said the Doctor, standing up and resting his hands on Holloway's desk. 'Stop your operations here, and leave Earth – return to your own dimension, and never come back. The Time Lords will be none the wiser about what's happened here – but this stops now. People have died – Graham Holloway, Daniel Richmond, the original Miss French; what's done is done, but you must not continue your plans.'

'You presume too much of me, Doctor,' Holloway growled. 'You think I'm going to listen to your meaningless bravado? It is nothing – my mind was made up years before Graham Holloway ever fell into that lake. This world will belong to the Nameless; the planet Earth, a beachhead for our incursions into this universe. And there isn't the slightest thing you can do about it, Doctor.'

'I was afraid you might say that,' said the Doctor, reaching into his pocket. 'I was hoping you might listen to reason, but if you're really hell bent on invasion…'

Holloway raised an eyebrow as the Doctor fumbled around in his pocket for something.

'Looking for something?' he asked. The Doctor glared at him.

'Couldn't resist a little rummage around my things, could you?' he asked. Holloway reached into his own pocket and drew out the sonic screwdriver – he held the device carefully, the bright blue crystal at its head gleaming as he turned it over delicately.

'A marvel of technology,' he said, looking at the screwdriver admiringly. 'A symbol of what your race might have achieved if they'd ever bothered to dream beyond the great vaults and halls of Gallifrey. What was it you were thinking of trying with this, hmm Doctor? A signal to your friends, perhaps – to order them to begin some sort of offensive on this facility?'

'Something like that,' the Doctor admitted, looking at the screwdriver wistfully.

'A shame,' said Holloway as he put the screwdriver back into his pocket. 'You know, there was a small part of me that was actually looking forward to seeing what it was you'd been planning… Your reputation is a mighty one, Doctor – so I must confess to being a little disappointed.'

The Doctor glanced at his watch.

'Well, I always hate to disappoint,' he said. 'Fortunately, you may be in luck, Father Grek.'

'And just what do you mean by-'

Before Holloway could finish his sentence, there was a terrific booming sound from somewhere, and the ground beneath them shook. At once, Holloway looked out of the window.

'That came from the main pump building…' he muttered.

'Yeah, sorry about that,' said the Doctor. 'I forgot to mention my back-up.'

* * *

 _Before…_

Liv counted down the seconds on her watch, nodding as she did so. When it finally ticked around to the appointed time, she looked at Douglas, who was holding a slim silver tube in his hand.

'Anything?' she asked. Douglas shook his head.

'Nothing,' he replied.

'Well, we'd better get on with it, then.'

They were standing by the side of the underground lake, looking towards the massive silver pipe leading up to the main pump. The slim tube in Douglas' hand was in fact an old sonic screwdriver, procured from a dusty old coat the Doctor had pulled from the TARDIS' wardrobe ('It's a classic model! Talk about retro…' he'd exclaimed).

'Ready?' said Liv. Douglas nodded and raised the screwdriver, aiming it towards the pipe. He pressed a little stud built into the side of the device, and a shrill whine started up. On the side of the pipe, a valve burst open, and water began spraying out, filling the lake chamber with a fine mist.

'Hopefully that's caused a few problems upstairs,' said Liv. Then she grabbed Douglas' arm. 'Come on – let's get back to the tunnel. The Doctor should be along any minute.'

* * *

'I warned you, Grek,' said the Doctor. 'I told you none of this had to happen – all you had to do was leave peacefully. But now, I'll see to it that your whole wretched enterprise is wiped clean from this planet's history.'

'Security!' Holloway howled, but it was already too late – the Doctor was already inside his TARDIS, the engines striking up in a chorus of churning winds. The box faded away, leaving the corner empty. Holloway screamed with rage, and stalked towards the door – his secretary was already waiting for her orders.

'Every single member of security personnel is to be roused immediately,' he shouted. 'Scour this facility from top to bottom – I want the Doctor and his friends found, and shot on sight!'

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	7. Chapter 7

The TARDIS thudded into reality on the edge of the compound – the Doctor poked his head through the doors, looking out for any guards.

'The coast's clear,' he whispered through the doors, and in a few moments he was joined by Liv, Douglas and Holly. 'Everybody knows what they're doing?'

'Releasing the water out of the reservoirs and back into the underground lake,' said Douglas. Holly nodded.

'And you and I are going to disable the pumping equipment,' said Liv, nodding at the Doctor.

'Good stuff,' said the Doctor. 'Let's get moving – we can't have much time before they realise what we're up to.'

'See you back here in thirty minutes,' said Holly, as she and Douglas began to move towards the reservoir building.

'Be careful!' the Doctor called after them, but not so loudly as to attract the attention of any nearby guards. Then he turned to Liv. 'Let's go.'

'Have you got that cure thing?' she asked. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of blue liquid.

'It's not a cure,' he said. 'It's a simple anti-bonding agent that should force Nameless cells to lose their control over their human hosts. Basically, it makes the Nameless to evacuate the bodies they've stolen. But it's a last resort only – we have to give them the chance to leave first.'

They crossed the facility quickly, ducking in and out of crates and machinery. Thankfully, the dying light was giving them some degree of cover as they moved. The Doctor grabbed Liv's arm suddenly, pulling her to a stop.

'What is it?' Liv asked, looking around wide-eyed.

'There – look,' said the Doctor, pointing towards Annex One. The door was open, and a stream of guards was heading inside, obviously towards the cave system beneath their feet.

'Why are they going down there?' Liv asked.

'They must think we're going to come up from that way,' said the Doctor. 'Have you still got the sonic screwdriver?'

'What?' Liv asked in confusion, showing him the slim tube Douglas had used on the pipe earlier. 'Why… oh!'

She waited until the last guard had gone into the Annex, before aiming the sonic screwdriver towards the door, and switching it on. A high pitched buzzing filled the air, and the door swung shut. There was a barely audible _thunk_ as the lock engaged on the door, sealing the Annex shut – and the guards down in the.

'There were quite a lot of guards there,' said Liv.

'Looked like most of the complement,' said the Doctor. 'But they'd be mad not to leave this place completely unguarded. Keep your eyes open, Liv – there's bound to be more of them.'

They moved on, and eventually arrived at the pump building. Fortunately, it was unlocked – the Doctor and Liv went inside, after checking that they still hadn't been spotted by any guard still on the upper level of the facility.

Unfortunately, the pump building was bustling with workers – they fretted around the pump like worker bees around their queen. It was quite clear they were under stress – they couldn't complete their tasks fast enough.

'They're pretty set on getting the pump up to full capacity,' said Liv as they crouched down behind a nearby forklift. 'There's too many of them – we'll never get this equipment shut off with this lot in the way.'

'You're right,' the Doctor muttered dejectedly. 'If only there was…'

He stopped as he spotted something on the wall – a small red box with a plastic casing. Liv had no idea what it did, but the Doctor suddenly broke cover and strode towards it confidently, flipping the case up and pressing his thumb onto the little black square inside the box. Immediately, a siren struck up, and water began spraying down from the ceiling, covering them all.

'Out! Everybody, out now!' someone started yelling, waving his arm towards the door – to Liv, he looked like some sort of foreman. The Doctor re-joined her behind the forklift, and they waited as the workers slowly cleared the room. Eventually, only the foreman remained.

* * *

Brother Dihl fumed silently as he approached the little red lever by the door that would shut off the infernal sprinkler system. He practically ripped the switch from its casing in his anger as he switched the flow of water off – the siren too died away, leaving the pump room silent, save for the regular _plink! plink!_ of water dripping from the gantries. Then his anger boiled over, and he shouted aloud.

'Where are you, Doctor? I know you're in here – show yourself!' he roared, turning on the spot in an effort to locate the Time Lord. 'We have our orders – Father Grek wants you dead! Come out now and I might even make it quick.'

There was no response – of course there wasn't. Dihl decided that he was going to have to be smart about this. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the layout of the pump room in its entirety. The Doctor had set off the fire alarm – all he had to do was remember where the switches had been placed…

* * *

The Doctor's face was almost comical – if she hadn't been too busy fearing for her life, Liv would've laughed at the look of total surprise written across his features as an invisible force grabbed him and hurled him away from their hiding spot behind the forklift.

'Doctor!' she called out, before inwardly cursing herself – now she'd given away her own presence to the foreman, who was standing with his arm outstretched. She could see a green afterglow in his eyes as he walked towards the Doctor, turning his head to look at her.

'It's a shame you had to bring one of your companions here with you, Doctor,' the foreman said, as the Doctor struggled to his feet. 'I'd been hoping I'd only have to kill you, but you've rather forced my hand.'

'Not if I can help it,' said the Doctor, rather more bravely than Liv thought was wise, given the fact that the foreman was obviously in possession of some sort of telekinetic ability.

'Surprised?' the foreman asked the Doctor, knocking the Time Lord back to the ground with a wave of his hand. 'I suppose I would be too, if I were in your position – we Nameless only use telekinesis rarely, it's quite taxing for us. However, in your case – I'm more than willing to make the effort.'

The Doctor was sent sprawling across the ground by an invisible fist – he crashed against the wall of the pump room, but even this wasn't enough to break him; once again, he fought himself up to his feet.

'Liv – run!' he called, just in time to find himself being raised up from the ground and smashed into one of the metal gantries. Liv remained rooted to the spot – she had to do something, but to attack the foreman head on was pure folly, a suicidal act. There must be something she could do…

* * *

Douglas was surprised to find the control room for the main reservoirs completely devoid of people – perhaps there was more pressing work that needed to be done elsewhere. He and Holly entered nervously, and Douglas had to admit that he was surprised they'd even made it this far.

'We need to get onto one of these terminals,' he said, looking at the row of blank computer screens – he switched one of the machines on, but grimaced when a log-in screen appeared a few moments later.

'It's no good,' he muttered after trying a few more computers, with no improvement in results. 'All of these machines are locked.'

'These ones too,' said Holly, having tried a few terminals herself. Douglas sighed, and rubbed the back of his head. 'Have a look around – maybe there's a list?'

'Like anyone's going to leave a list of passwords lying around,' Holly said, although she had a quick look under one or two of the desks. Douglas suddenly had an idea – he looked around, and sure enough, a yellow Post-It was stuck to one of the monitors.

'Look!' he said, pointing to the scrap of paper. He ripped it from the screen – sure enough, there was a log-in and password scrawled in blocky handwriting. He showed it to Holly, who beamed.

'Thank goodness for sloppy security,' she said. 'It's our lucky day.'

'Let's hope our luck holds,' said Douglas as he sat down and pulled the keyboard towards him. He quickly typed the log-in details into the computer, and after a tense few seconds, a home screen appeared. He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked over the list of files and applications on the home page.

'There,' said Holly, pointing at an icon of a water drop. 'Reservoir Management?'

'This looks good,' said Douglas as he opened the program and a complicated list of diagnostic information appeared. He bit his lip as he searched around for something obvious – a large red button with an 'Empty Reservoir' label would be pretty handy right now, he thought.

'Maybe there's something else,' said Holly, but Douglas shook his head.

'No, this must be it,' he said, opening a new window – a help screen, by the looks of it.

'There,' he said, pointing to a file marked 'Emergency drainage'.

'That's it!' Holly exclaimed. Douglas opened it, and a list of instructions appeared on the screen.

'Let's get started,' he said, beginning to type. Then he gasped – as did Holly – as a door behind them opened, and Miss French thudded through, a gun in her hand.

'Get away from that terminal,' she said, aiming the gun at Douglas' head and squeezing the trigger.

* * *

Liv could see the foreman tiring, but he was still strong enough to continue flinging the Doctor around like a puppet. There had to be something she could do – there had to be. Unfortunately, no obvious course of action was presenting itself just yet – she wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the foreman without being noticed, and then it would be her turn to get thrown across the room. No… she had to be clever about this.

She looked over the back of the forklift, peering through the cab and beyond. She could just see over the dashboard…

* * *

Brother Dihl looked around as the sound of an engine struck up near the side of the room. He smiled as he spotted the Doctor's companion sitting in the forklift truck, bringing the platform down towards him.

'Really?' he said, as the machine began to move – it had a surprising speed, and it hurtled towards him menacingly. But it wasn't quite closing the gap quickly enough to take him by surprise. He held his hand up, and focused. The forklift was a much larger target than the Doctor, and it would use up a lot of his energy, but if he did it correctly…

There! The forklift suddenly toppled to the side. The Doctor's companion gave a yell of surprise as the machine tipped, falling to the floor with a crash. The woman in the cab yelled in agony – it seemed her leg had become trapped between the ground and the metal bars surrounding the cab.

That had been rather more exhausting than he'd expected – he was panting for breath as he turned to the Doctor once more, raising his palm to face the fallen Time Lord. The Doctor was thrown against the wall, scrabbling at his neck in a worthless effort to breath. Dihl focused on the Doctor completely, willing on his death.

That's why he didn't notice that the Doctor's companion had freed herself from the forklift until he felt a desperately painful blow between his legs.

* * *

The Doctor collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. He looked up – Liv was standing over the foreman's prone body, looking fierce. On the ground, the Nameless writhed in agony for a moment or two before falling still. Liv made sure he was properly unconscious, before coming towards the Doctor.

'Thank you, Liv,' he croaked, rubbing his throat – the foreman's telekinesis had been quite strong.

'No problem,' said Liv, helping the Doctor to stand. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' he gasped, gesturing towards the pump. 'Let's get this thing shut down before someone else comes along.'

* * *

Holly had only a few seconds to do something – sheer panic grabbed her as she wrapped her fingers around the handle of a mug on the desk in front of her. She slung it across the room towards Miss French – it was enough to stop her from firing, but luckily it did the trick of distracting her aim. The bullet shattered the wall above the terminal, and Holly grabbed Douglas and pulled him to the floor as Miss French readied her gun again. They began to crawl beneath the desk, as Miss French fired wildly through the wood.

'What are we going to do?' Douglas asked, wincing as the gunshots rang out around them.

'Wait until she's out of bullets,' said Holly.

'Then what?'

'I don't know – I haven't worked that bit out yet,' she replied. After a few more shots, there was a clicking noise – Miss French swore.

'Now!' Douglas shouted, leaping out from behind the desk and racing towards Miss French. Miss French raised her hand, and suddenly Douglas tripped on something invisible, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Unfortunately for Miss French, Holly had been right behind him, and she didn't have time to prepare herself. The two women collided – Holly tackled Miss French to the ground, grappling for the gun.

'Douglas! Help!' Holly shouted, desperately trying to grab the gun out of Miss French's hand. Douglas looked around frantically for something to use – but there was nothing in the room except for a few chairs and fire extinguishers.

'Holly! When I say, get out of the way – but keep her still!' Douglas shouted, as he lifted one of the extinguishers from its bracket on the wall. He ripped the tag away from the lever, and aimed it at Miss French.

'Now!' he shouted. Holly threw her head back, holding Miss French's arms in place on the ground. Douglas squeezed the trigger, and let loose the extinguisher. A jet of carbon dioxide rushed around Miss French – slowly, she stopped struggling, and eventually fell limp.

'Is she dead?' Douglas asked, shutting off the extinguisher as Holly gingerly stepped away from Miss French's prone body.

'I don't think so,' Holly replied, watching the slow rising and falling of Miss French's chest.

'Oh, good,' said Douglas – he didn't much fancy the idea of being a killer.

'Come on,' said Holly gesturing towards their terminal. 'Let's get this finished.'

* * *

Graham Holloway watched his computer screen in horror as the numbers indicating the volume of water stored in the main reservoirs plummeted rapidly, ending in a row of zeros. He refreshed the page, but it was no good – these numbers were real. He swore, and kicked at the wastepaper bin beneath his desk, sending papers rolling all across the floor. Then, another alert popped up on the screen, informing him that the main pump had suffered a catastrophic error and had gone into immediate shutdown.

'Get security to the main pump building and the reservoir control room immediately!' he shouted into his intercom, but it was no use – already the Doctor and his friends would be on their way back to his TARDIS, wherever it was. Then, they'd be coming for him…

So he did the only thing he knew he could – he quickly scoured the CCTV network for a tell-tale-blue phone box, and once it was located, he grabbed his pistol from the desk and left his office.

* * *

'Come on,' Douglas urged Holly as they made toward the TARDIS. 'The Doctor and Liv are probably already back.'

'I know!' Holly called back. 'But it wasn't you that had to wrestle that woman – I think I've pulled a muscle.'

'Here, I'll help,' said Douglas, immediately falling back and supporting her. 'Let's get going – the TARDIS isn't far.'

They turned around the corner of one of the buildings, and went straight into the Doctor and Liv.

'God! You scared the life out of me!' Douglas exclaimed, his heart hammering in his chest.

'Did you get the reservoir emptied?' the Doctor asked. Holly nodded.

'We think so,' she said. 'What about the pump?'

'Out of action,' said the Doctor. 'Now, we need to see Father Grek.'

'I doubt he'll be in a welcoming mood after we wrecked his plans,' said Liv.

'I've bought us enough time to get in contact with UNIT – regardless of whether Grek thinks he can rebuild the pump in time, which I doubt is even possible, this plant isn't equipped for a full-scale siege,' said the Doctor. 'He hasn't got any choice but to leave, now.'

'Well, let's hope he sees it that way too,' said Liv. 'The TARDIS is just around the next corner.'

'Then let's go,' said the Doctor.

They turned the corner – the TARDIS was only a few metres ahead. Unfortunately, Graham Holloway was standing between them and the police box, a murderous expression on his face and a gun in his hand. In Liv's experience, that was never a good combination.

'Ah,' the Doctor muttered.

'You've ruined everything!' Holloway shouted, waving the gun towards the group. 'Years of work and waiting, all for nothing!'

'You have no choice now,' said the Doctor. 'If you don't leave, you'll die when UNIT come to rip this facility apart. For your own sake, take the rest of your thugs and leave.'

'I will,' Holloway conceded. 'But not before killing you and your friends. Do you really think I'm going to let you live after all you've done?'

'Enough people have died,' said the Doctor. 'There doesn't have to be any more deaths. You have a choice, Father Grek – you can leave this place in peace. Take that choice.'

'I am a warrior, Doctor,' Holloway shouted. 'I am nothing if not a warrior – do you imagine that the deaths of four enemies are going to weigh especially on my conscience?'

He fired the gun – a bullet tore into Douglas' shoulder. He fell backwards, away from the group, his shirt staining red with blood.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ **I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


	8. Chapter 8

'Douglas!' Liv yelled as the young man crumpled to the ground, blood already spreading out across his shirt. She and Holly dropped to the ground beside him, Liv's medial training taking over as she pulled her jacket off and used it to stem the bleeding.

'There was no need for that!' the Doctor yelled. 'This killing must stop now!'

'On the contrary – I will kill each and every one of you!' Holloway raised the gun again, but the Doctor was already moving. He grabbed Holloway's arm and forced it towards the sky. A shot rang out as the two men fought, the Doctor forcing Holloway towards the fence. They were right beside the place the Doctor had cut through the fence earlier – he forced Holloway through the gap, and onto the grass outside. Another shot rang out as the Doctor and Holloway tumbled down the bank, collapsing into a heap at the bottom. The Doctor managed to grab Holloway's gun and throw it away – it disappeared amongst the gorse that littered the area surrounding the facility.

'Listen to me!' The Doctor grabbed Holloway by the lapels and shook him – the old man seemed dazed, possibly due to their fall down the bank. 'See reason, Father Grek – this is over. There's nothing you can do about that – go in peace, and never come back to this planet, or this universe.'

'Get off me!' Holloway yelled suddenly, pushing the Doctor away from him. The Doctor was taken by surprise – the professor was stronger than he looked – and he fell back onto the cold, wet ground. Then the professor was on top of him, punching and swiping at the Doctor in a whirl of frenzied motion. The Doctor just managed to reach his hands up and push Holloway off him, and he tried to stand, but a moment later Holloway had just tackled him to the ground again. This time, he managed to grab Holloway by the shoulders, and hold him in place.

'It doesn't have to be like this,' he said, struggling to hold Holloway away from him. 'I'm giving you a chance, Grek! Take it!'

'Why should I, when I have you at my mercy?' Holloway growled, finally breaking through the Doctor's defence and wrapping his fingers around the Time Lord's throat. 'When I've finished with you, Doctor – I'm going to kill your friends. And then, once Earth is subjugated and my people reign supreme upon it – I will journey into the stars. Skaro, Sontar – they will all fall beneath the might of the Nameless. And then, once we have assimilated those great warrior races and I have an unstoppable army at my beck and call, we will turn our attentions to Gallifrey. When the Time Lords are nothing but a faint memory, then this universe will be ours.'

'Then you leave me no choice,' said the Doctor. 'I will stop you, Grek. I promise.'

'That is a promise you will never get the chance to keep,' said Holloway, tightening his grip on the Doctor's neck. The Doctor began to choke, his vision darkening. All he could see above him as Holloway's grimacing face, wrought with the struggle of his attack.

Then there was a thump, and Holloway fell to the side. The Doctor's eyes shot wide, and he gasped for air. Liv was standing over him.

'Doctor! Are you alright?' she asked.

'Fine – what about Douglas?' the Doctor asked.

'He's stable,' said Liv. 'Holly's looking after him – but he needs a hospital soon.'

'Where's Father Grek?' the Doctor asked. Liv pointed to the side, where Holloway was gripping his head, moaning in pain.

'I warned you, Father Grek,' said the Doctor as he moved closer, pulling the little vial of anti-bonding agent from his coat and twisting the cap off. 'I gave you your chance. It's over.'

He pressed the vial to Holloway's lips, and tilted it up so that the thick blue liquid ran down into the man's mouth. Then he clasped his hand over Holloway's mouth, forcing him to swallow.

'What happens now?' Liv asked, but her question was answered immediately. Holloway sat up suddenly, water running gushing from his mouth. The water slopped onto the ground, but wasn't absorbed – instead, it ran up the hill and back into the facility.

'Where's it going?' Liv asked.

'If Father Grek has any sense, he's heading for the underground lake,' said the Doctor, reaching down and opening Holloway's jacket. A few seconds later, he straightened up, sonic screwdriver in hand. 'If he gathers his brethren quickly, he might make it back to his own universe before UNIT arrive to collapse the cavern.'

'Speaking of, shouldn't you go and tell them what's been happening here?' Liv asked. 'It's just – Douglas really needs a medical attention.'

'Right you are,' said the Doctor, striding off quickly towards the facility again. Liv followed him.

'Can I just point something out?'

'I'm sure you can, Liv,' the Doctor sighed. Liv grinned.

'Well, it's just that I saved your life _twice_ today,' she said. 'Surely that must be some kind of record.'

'I'm sure it is.'

* * *

 _Two weeks later…_

The sun was shining down on Taberly village green – all around the edges, families were having picnics, playing football and generally enjoying themselves. The Doctor was standing against the TARDIS doors, smiling softly; it was a lot different – a lot better – than the little village he and Liv had arrived in just a fortnight earlier. Even the old pensioner who'd attacked him for walking on the grass seemed cheerful – maybe that was just because she hadn't spotted him yet.

The door behind him opened, and Liv stepped out onto the green. 'Blimey. This place has changed.'

'Hasn't it?' said the Doctor with a smile. 'It's got plenty of life about it, that's for sure. It's surprising what a bit of sunshine can do for a place.'

'Yeah, and getting rid of the aliens from another dimension,' said Liv.

'Yes, I suppose that helps too,' the Doctor chuckled. Then he raised his arm in greeting as two figures left the path and started towards the TARDIS.

'Good morning!' the Doctor called as Douglas and Holly came closer.

'Hello, Doctor, Liv,' said Douglas – one arm was in a sling, and the other was around Holly's shoulder. 'Thought we might find you here.'

'Just popped back to say goodbye,' said the Doctor.

'It's been two weeks,' said Holly. 'We thought you weren't coming back.'

'That's the Doctor's fault,' Liv smiled. 'For us, it's been five minutes.'

'Really?' Holly marvelled up at the TARDIS.

'I did only mean for us to be away for a day or two,' said the Doctor. 'The TARDIS is feeling a bit delicate at the moment.'

'That's probably bad news for us,' said Liv.

'Probably, but we'll deal with that when we come to it,' the Doctor replied. 'For now, we'll just enjoy the peace and quiet.'

'Yeah, right,' Liv grinned. 'Like that's going to last long.'

'That UNIT lot you were talking about, Doctor,' said Douglas, 'They're down at the plant now, stripping it apart.'

'Good,' said the Doctor. 'Hopefully they do a thorough job – if any of the Nameless remained in the water system… Luckily, I gave them a few pointers on how to deal with any stragglers that didn't make it back to their own dimension.'

'You think some of them might still be here?' Liv asked.

'Nope,' the Doctor replied, shaking his head. 'I think they've learnt their lesson – they'll have scarpered back to wherever it was that they came from. But it never hurts to be too careful – UNIT are equipped to deal with any that remained behind.'

'They're a bit scary,' said Holly. 'They made us sign the Official Secrets Act – literally made us, guns and all.'

'They have their ups and downs,' said the Doctor, a dark look on his face. 'But their hearts are the in the right place. And besides, as long as the Brigadier's around, they'll do what's right, no matter the consequences.'

'Well, I'll be glad if I don't seem them ever again,' said Douglas. 'Or the Nameless. Or any other sort of alien, come to think of it.' Then he looked at the Doctor. 'Oh, no offence.'

'None taken,' the Doctor chuckled. He nudged Liv's arm. 'Come on – we'd better be on our way. Destrana awaits!'

He was about to step into the TARDIS, when they were interrupted by shouting from the other side of the green. From her vantage point on the summer seat, an old woman raised her walking stick and waved it around frantically.

'You're not supposed to walk on the grass! How many bloody times do I have to tell you to stay off the grass!' she hollered. The Doctor grinned.

'Somethings never change,' he said. Then he disappeared into the TARDIS, lost almost immediately in the cavernous interior of the time machine. Liv smiled at Douglas and Holly as she stepped up into the police box.

'Thanks,' said Douglas. 'For everything.'

'No problem,' Liv said. 'It's what we do.'

Then she moved away, and closed the door.

* * *

'Are you sure we're aiming for the right place this time?' Liv asked. 'Destrana – a paradise planet, remember? Not Earth in the late nineteen nineties, or some space station on the other side of the galaxy.'

'I remember,' the Doctor grumbled, twisting a few dials on the TARDIS' console as he set the coordinates. Liv rested her hands against the wooden console and bit her lip.

'Are you sure that none of the Nameless escaped?' Liv asked. 'I mean, they were trying to invade this entire universe. It would make sense if they left some sort of stay-behind, or contingency.'

'Well, if they did,' the Doctor smiled as he eased a lever into place – the TARDIS engines struck up their rhythmic pulsing and wheezing noise as the central column began to pump up and down, 'I'm sure we'll hear about it one way or another.'

'And then?'

'We'll be right there to stop them.' The Doctor grinned.

'I hope so,' said Liv.

'Oh, cheer up – we're on our way to Destrana, remember?' said the Doctor.

'Alright then, tell me a bit more about this place,' said Liv. 'What's it like?'

'Well, the planet's mostly covered in water, but the islands – oh, they're beautiful,' said the Doctor. 'And they people: so very, very friendly. You know, they used to worship this… it was some sort of spider god…'

* * *

'Where are you going, miss?'

Freddy Conway looked over his shoulder as the young woman climbed into his taxi. She looked pale, as though she was suffering from some sort of illness. She shook her head.

'The airport, I think.'

'Off on your holidays?' Freddy asked, as he turned around to face ahead and started to drive.

'Something like that.'

'I see,' Freddy replied – it wasn't always the case that his passengers wanted to talk. Nevertheless, that didn't put him off trying to strike up a conversation. 'What's your name, love?'

'Is that important?'

'Not really,' Freddy replied. 'Mine's Freddy Conway.'

'Miss French,' the woman replied. 'My name is Miss French.'

'Where are you off to, Paris?' Freddy laughed at his own joke.

'Mr Conway?'

'Yes, Miss French?'

'Please be silent.'

'Oh.'

He completed the rest of the journey without another word – inside, he felt a little put out, but then again, conversation wasn't for everyone. Sometimes people just liked a little bit of peace and quiet. And this Miss French woman was being very quiet…

He finally pulled into the airport car park, and turned around in his seat again.

'That's fifteen thirty, love…'

He trailed off as he saw that the woman had fallen asleep in the back. Cursing, he switched the engine off and climbed out of the taxi, walking around to the back doors. He pulled it open, and nudged the woman's shoulder.

'Miss French, we've arrived at the airport.'

There was no response, so he nudged her again. This time, her head lolled to the side lazily, with no control. Fear started to grip at Freddy's heart.

'Miss French? Can you hear me love?' He reached out and touched the backs of his fingers to her cheek – she was stone cold.

'Oh my god!' Freddy exclaimed, reaching out and feeling for a pulse in the woman's neck. There was none, and Freddy swore again as he scrambled for his mobile; his fingers shook as he dialled for an ambulances. He was so intent on placing the call that he didn't notice the rivulet of water dribbling steadily out of the corner of Miss French's mouth and running down onto the seat of his taxi. It streamed out of the car and onto the ground, where it waited for a few seconds.

Then, the little stream of water snaked off towards the airport terminal, leaving Freddy the taxi driver alone with an empty body.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ It's the end! I really hope you've enjoyed reading this story - please leave a review, it helps so much to keep me writing!**


End file.
